THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

Bon  Adams  and  Don  Adams 


PRESENTED  BY 

Mrs.  Bon  Adams  and 
Mrs*  Ray  B,  McCarty 


TALLEYRAND 

A     BIOGRAPHICAL     STUDY 


'H*tt<M.t4f^'»%a^    ^iuff^t    ,v    v; 


A  ^>K      CcC<<^t'cC  ^^  ^  ^c    //'     y  <^-  .  c'Q 


TALLEYRAND 

A   Biographical  Study 


By 

JOSEPH    McCABE 

Author  of  "Peter  Abelard,"    **  Saint  Augustine,"  &c. 


WITH      25      PORTRAITS 
INCLUDING    A     PHOTOGRAVURE     FRONTISPIECE 


NEW    YORK 

D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

1907 


TiC^iSt) 


PRINTED    IN   GBEAT    BRITAIN 


PREFACE 

Sainte-Beuve,  after  an  attempt  that  one  cannot  describe 
as  successful,  declared  that  "it  is  hardly  possible  to  write 
the  life  of  M.  de  Talleyrand."  Frederic  Masson  noticed 
the  figure  of  the  great  diplomatist  as  he  passed  with  a 
disdainful  "ce  Sphinx."  Carlyle  forgot  his  dogmatism 
for  a  moment,  and  pronounced  Talleyrand  "one  of  the 
strangest  things  ever  seen  or  like  to  be  seen,  an  enigma 
for  future  ages."  Even  a  woman  of  penetration,  Mme. 
de  Stael,  who  had  known  him  well,  assures  us  that 
he  was  "  the  most  impenetrable  and  most  inexplicable 
of  men." 

There  were  a  few  who  thought  that  the  long-sealed 
"Memoirs"  of  the  Prince,  which  were  published  only 
a  few  years  ago,  would  reveal  every  secret.  They  forgot 
that  these  were  the  work  of  the  man  who  held 
(improving  on  Voltaire)  that  "  speech  was  given  to  man 


PREFACE 


to  disguise  his  thoughts" — the  man  who  conducted  his 
exit  from  the  world  with  all  the  art  he  had  used  at  the 
Congress  of  Vienna.  Yet,  if  the  "  Memoirs "  have 
thrown  no  light,  or  only  a  deceptive  light,  on  some  of 
the  obscurer  passages  in  Talleyrand's  career,  they  have 
at  least  filled  in  our  picture  of  his  personality,  so  that 
the  tradition  of  its  inscrutability  must  be  surrendered. 
There  has  been  a  prolonged  and  microscopic  research 
into  the  age  or  ages  of  Talleyrand, — the  Old  Regime, 
the  Revolution,  the  Consulate,  the  Restoration,  and 
the  second  Revolution.  The  memoirs  of  nearly  all  his 
contemporaries  have  seen  the  light,  and  official  records 
everywhere  have  been  examined.  I  have  made  a 
careful  use  of  all  this  research  up  to  date,  and 
find  it  possible  to  present  a  consistent  and  intelligible 
personality. 

Lady  Blennerhassett  included  the  material  of  the 
"  Memoirs  "  in  the  biography  of  Talleyrand  that  she 
wrote  ten  years  ago.  But  a  good  deal  of  light  has 
since  been  thrown  on  the  earlier  part  of  his  career, 
and  in  this  regard  I  gratefully  avail  myself  of  the 
investigations  of  M.  de  Lacombe.  Moreover,  Lady 
Blennerhassett  is  chiefly  occupied  with  the  Prince's 
diplomatic    action.       His     personality    does     not    stand 


PREFACB 


out  very  clearly  from  her  very  crowded  canvas.  That 
is  an  inherent  disadvantage  in  writing  the  life  of  a 
great  diplomatist.  However,  in  spite  of  the  alluring 
character  of  the  stretch  of  history  across  which  the 
thread  of  Talleyrand's  life  passes,  I  have  tried  to 
keep  it  in  its  place  as  a  background,  and  to  bring  out 
into  the  fullest  light  the  elusive  figure  of  the  man  v/ho 
made  and  unmade  a  dozen  oaths  of  loyalty. 

J.  M. 

London,  June^   1906. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  P*Gi: 

I.  THE    TRAINING    OF    A   DIPLOMATIST     .         .         .  i 

II.      THE    ABBE    MALGRE    LUI i6 

III.  PRIEST    AND    BISHOP 38 

IV.  AT    THE    STATES    GENERAL 56 

V.  THE    BREACH    WITH    THE    CHURCH      ...  80 

VI.      CITIZEN    TALLEYRAND loi 

VII.       EXILE 121 

VIII.      THE     REGENERATED    PARIS 141 

IX.       ENTER    NAPOLEON 165 

X.       WAR    AND    DIPLOMACY 177 

XI.  THE    RESTORATION    OF    RELIGION                          .200 

XII.       THE    RENEWAL    OF    WAR 223 

XIII.  AWAY    FROM    NAPOLEON 251 

XIV.  THE    RESTORATION 281 

XV.       A    DIPLOMATIC    ROMANCE 303 

XVI.  THE    "FOREIGNERS   OF    THE    INTERIOR".         .  326 

XVII.       THE    LAST    ACT 349 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


This  Study  is  chiefly  based  on  the  following  Works  : 

1.  Talleyrand's  "  Memoires  "    (edit,  de  Broglie,   5  volumes)  ;    Official 

Correspondence  from  London  in  1792,  during  the  Directoire, 
during  the  Vienna  Congress,  and  from  London  in  1S30-4  (edit. 
Pallain)  ;  Letters  to  Napoleon,  Mme.  Adelaide,  D'Hautcrive, 
Choiseul-Gouffier,  the  Duchess  of  Courland,  Bacourt,  Royer- 
Collard,  Guizot,  and  others;  and  his  separately  published 
Speeches  and  other  Documents. 

2.  "  Proc^s-verbal  Historique  des  Actes  du  Clerge  ;  "   "  Proces-verbal 

de  I'Assemblee  Nationale;  "  "  Histoire  Parlementaire"  (Bouchez 
et  Roux)  ;  and  the  Memoirs  or  Letters  of  Arnault,  Barante, 
Carnot,  Consalvi,  von  Gagern,  Mme.  de  Genlis,  Guizot,  Lauzun, 
Las  Cases,  Macdonald,  Meneval,  Miot  de  Melito,  Morellet, 
Napoleon,  Pasquier,  Mme.  de  Remusat,  Savary,  Senfft,  and 
Stapfer. 

Of  Biographies  or  Biographical  Sketches  of  Talleyrand  the  chief 
are  those  bj-  Lady  Blennerhassett  (the  first  authority  on  his 
diplomatic  career),  Brougham,  Castellane,  Castille,  Lacombe  (the 
best  authority  on  his  ecclesiastical  career).  Sir  H.  Buhver  Lytton 
(a  very  generous  but  imperfectly  informed  study),  Mignet, 
Montarlot,  and  Place  et  Florens.  The  following  writers  are  too 
imaginative  or  too  prejudiced  to  be  of  much  value  :  Bastide, 
Colmache,  Marcade,  Michaud,  Pichot,  Sainte-Beuve,  Salle, 
Stewartson,  Touchard-Lafosse,  Vars,  and  Villemarest. 

4.  Subsidiary  information  has  been  derived  chiefly  from  "  Aus  dem 
Eheleben  eines  Bischofs "  (anon.);  Abt's  "  Lebensende  des 
F.  Talleyrand;"  Aulard's  "Histoire  Politique  de  la  Revolution 
Francjaise;"  Caro's  "La  Fin  duXVill  Sidjcle;"  Cretineau-Jolys 
"Bonaparte  et  le  Concordat;"  Darcy's  "  L'ambassade  de 
Talleyrand  a  Londres  ;  "  Demaria's  "  Benevento  sotto  il  Principe 
Talleyrand  ;  "  "  Gazier's  "  Etude  sur  I'Histoire  Religieuse  de  la 
Revolution  Fran^aise ; "  Goncourt's  "Histoire  de  la  Socidte 
Francj-aise  Pendant  la  Revolution;"  Louandre's  "La  Noblesse 
Fran(;aise  sous  I'ancienne  Monarchic  ;  "  Mongras'  "  La  fin  d'une 
Socic5tc '.  "  Michelefs  "  Histoire  de  la  Revolution  ; "  Rambaud  et 
Levisse's  "  Histoire  G^nerale ;  "  Rose's  "Life  of  Napoleon  I.;" 
Sloane's  "Life  of  Napoleon;"  Taine's  "  Les  Origines  de  la 
France  Contemporaine ;"  Thicr's  "Revolution,"  "Consulat," 
and  "  Empire." 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PACE 

Talleyrand  (after  Gkrard)  Photogravure    .        .         Frontispiece 

Talleyrand  (a  Portrait  in  Early  Life)       ....  26 

Mme.  de  Genlis 30 

Marie  Antoinette 46 

Louis  XVL 54 

CaMMILLE    DESiMOULINS 72 

MiRABEAU 102 

DaNTON 122 

Mhe.  de  Stael 132 

Mme.  Talleyrand 148 

Carnot 154 

Barras 168 

SlEYES 174 

Napoleon 182 

Talleyrand  (under  Napoleon)       190 

Talleyrand  (undee  Napoleon)       210 

Alexander  1 248 

Talleyrand  (in  Middle  Age)  .......  274 

Louis  XVIII 292 

Prince  Metternich 306 

Talleyrand  (under  Louis  XVIII.) 340 

Charles  X.         , 346 

Louis  Philippe 350 

Talleyrand  (at  London,  in  1S31) 358 

Talleyrand  (Dantan's  Caricature-Bust)     ....  364 


CHAPTER  I 

THE    TRAINING    OF    A    DIPLOMATIST 

The  life-story  of  Charles  Maurice  de  Talleyrand- 
P^rigord,  as  I  propose  to  write  it,  begins  when,  in  his 
third  or  fourth  year,  he  falls  off  a  chest  of  drawers  and 
permanently  injures  his  foot.  That  wrench  of  muscles 
and  tendons,  making  him  limp  for  life,  led  to  a  perverse 
action  on  the  part  of  his  educators  that  did  equal  violence 
to  an  excellent  natural  disposition.  They  say  now  that 
the  education  of  a  child  begins  a  hundred  years  before 
he  is  born.  In  the  case  of  Talleyrand  you  may  just  as 
well  say  a  thousand.  On  his  father's  side  he  came  ot 
one  of  the  oldest  noble  families  in  France,  and  his 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  the  Marquis  d'Antigny.  But 
these  hereditary  influences  only  shape  the  general  contour 
of  his  character — give  the  refinement,  the  instinct  to 
rise  (Talleyrand,  or  Tailleran  —  as  Napoleon  always 
pronounced  it — is  said  to  be  from  "taillcr  les  rangs"), 
the  "sensibility"  and  "spirituality"  (as  people  spoke 
then),  the  self-possession.  When  you  wish  to  trace  the 
growth  of  the  peculiar  traits  of  Prince  Talleyrand,  you 
find  the  beginning  in  that  fateful  fall  and  dislocation  of 
the  foot. 

I 


2  UaUe^ran^ 

The  boy  was  born  in  1754,  in  the  Rue  Garanciere, 
at  Paris.*  The  week  that  followed  was  the  only  week 
he  ever  spent  under  the  same  roof  with  his  mother, 
though  she  lived  for  fifty  years  afterwards,  and  he  never 
quarrelled  with  his  family.  There  was  no  tender  rearing, 
no  loving  study  and  direction  of  the  young  life  in  those 
days.  Rousseau  had  not  yet  persuaded  France  that  a 
mother's  duty  did  not  end  with  an  impatient  and 
querulous  parturition.  Talleyrand's  father  and  mother 
were  both  in  the  service  of  the  Court.  It  was  an  age 
when  a  king  could  not  go  to  bed  without  two  or  three 
nobles  to  hand  him  his  night-dress  ;  and  when,  on  the 
other  hand,  nobles  could  not  live  without  sharing  the 
king's  purse  to  the  extent  of  some  forty  million  livres. 
Estates  had  been  mortgaged  and  starved  ;  Court  life  had 
become  ever  more  luxurious  and  exacting.  The  system 
only  held  together  by  a  frail  structure  of  privileges, 
sinecures  and  commissions,  that  bound  the  nobility 
closer  and  closer  to  Versailles  and  left  a  yawning  gulf 
between  them  and  the  people. 

That    gulf  was    not   to    be     seen    for   thirty    years 
yet,  and    meantime  the  life   of  the   idle   was  swift    and 

*  The  date  is  variously  given  as  February  2nd  or  13th,  and  even 
March.  The  first  seems  to  be  correct.  Dupanloup  speaks  of  the  Prince 
celebrating  his  eighty-fourth  birthday  on  that  date.  But  the  myth- 
making  faculty  has  been  so  busy  with  the  life  of  Talleyrand  that  his 
very  birthplace  and  parentage  have  been  disputed.  It  will  prepare  the 
reader  for  the  wild  legends  we  shall  encounter  to  learn  at  once  that 
serious  French  writers  have  attributed  Talleyrand's  lameness  to  a 
congenital  defect  or  to  an  encounter  with  a  savage  sow,  and  that  serious 
American  writers  {Bookman,  September  26,  1901)  have  asked  us  to 
consider  gravely  a  story  of  his  having  been  born  at  Mount  Desert,  Maine, 
the  illegitimate  son  of  an  American  fisher-girl  and  a  French  naval  officer 


JLbc  trainino  of  a  Diplomatist  3 

strenuous.  In  such  a  life  the  arrival  of  children  was 
an  accident,  a  complication.  They  must  at  once  be 
put  away  to  nurse,  then  to  school,  and  finally  be  placed 
in  the  system.  Lieutenant-General  de  Talleyrand- 
P6rigord  was  better  than  most  of  his  class,  but  a 
busy,  and  not  a  wealthy,  man.  Charles  Maurice  was 
immediately  put  to  nurse  in  the  suburbs,  and  so 
successfully  forgotten  that  when,  in  his  fourth  year, 
it  was  decided  to  remove  him,  he  was  found  to  be 
lamed  for  life  owing  to  the  unskilful  treatment  of  the 
injury  to  his  foot.  Through  the  death  of  his  elder 
brother  he  should  have  been  entitled  to  the  right  of 
primogeniture — the  right  to  the  one  good  position  in 
the  army  that  could  be  demanded  of  the  King.  But 
the  thought  of  a  Colonel  Talleyrand  limping  along  the 
galleries  at  Versailles  or  exhibiting  an  ill-shaped  foot 
on  parade  was  insufferable.  He  was  destined  to  the 
service  of  the  Church.  Talleyrand  himself  pondered 
at  a  later  date  over  the  long-drawn  consequences  of 
his  accident.  When  Royalist  agents  sought  his  powerful 
influence  for  the  restoration  of  the  King,  he  observed 
that  but  for  that  early  mishap  he  would  probably  be  with 
them  amongst  the  emigres  and   royal   ambassadors. 

At  the  time  it  fell  out  his  horizon  was  bounded 
by  the  cabbages  and  gooseberry  bushes  of  a  suburban 
garden,  but  in  his  fourth  year  he  was  transferred  to 
a  larger  sphere.  For  seventeen  days  his  wondering 
eyes  saw  the  great  world  unfold  before  them,  as  the 
coach    went    from    Paris    to    Bordeaux.       A    few    days 


4  Ualle^ranD 

later  he  was  in  a  stately  chateau  with  a  very  stately 
princess  caring  for  him.  Little  by  little  he  would 
learn  the  idea  of  lordship.  The  Princess  de  Chalais 
was  his  great-grandmother,  the  representative  of  a  family 
that  had  ruled  the  district  for  eight  centuries.  He 
saw  the  homage  of  her  little  court,  the  group  ot 
elderly  gentlemen  who  were  no  longer  needed  at 
brilliant  Versailles.  He  saw  a  broad  country-side, 
where  not  a  steeple  or  monument  could  catch  his  eye 
but  he  was  told  his  ancestors  had  reared  it.  On 
Sundays  he  saw  her  courtiers  carry  her  prayer-book 
in  the  red  velvet  bag,  and  he  knelt  on  his  chair 
near  her  prie-dieu^  and  felt  the  admiring  glances  of  the 
peasantry.  After  mass  he  saw — he  has  described  it  all 
so  tenderly  in  his  memoirs — the  sick  and  needy  of  the 
estate  trail  after  them  to  the  chateau,  where  the  old 
lady  sat  in  her  velvet  chair  in  the  "  dispensary,"  and 
the  huge  pots  of  ointment  (of  which  the  recipes  were 
kept  in  the  family)  were  opened,  and  two  Sisters  of 
Charity  interrogated  the  applicants,  and  the  Princess 
cut  up  the  lint  and  linen  v/ith  her  own  hands,  and 
directed  her  courtiers  to  deal  out  the  syrups  and 
ointments.     He  saw  the  old  regime  at  its  best. 

The  four  years  that  the  boy  spent  at  Chalais  had  a 
deep  influence  for  good  on  him.  The  Princess  loved 
him  :  she  was  almost  the  only  one  to  awaken  his  finer 
feelings  in  those  years  of  formation,  and  we  shall  find 
them,  recalling  those  kindly  days,  long  after  the  terrible 
ordeal  that  was  to  follow,  in  the  blood-spattered  streets 


trbe  trainino  of  a  H)iplomatist  5 

of  Paris  and  on  the  reeking  battle-fields  of  Napoleon. 
As  he  grew  up  he  must  have  wondered  at  times  why, 
through  those  eight  long  years  he  never  felt  the  kiss  of 
a  mother  or  heard  the  cheering  voice  of  his  distinguished 
father.  Then  he  would  learn  of  Paris  and  Versailles, 
and  how  the  splendour  of  Chalais  was  only  a  distant 
reflection  of  the  life  that  streamed  out  from  the  capital. 
At  last  he  was  to  return  to  Paris,  to  see  his  parents,  to 
ask  by  what  path  he  was  to  enter  into  that  life.  He 
was  eight  years  old,  a  sharp,  observant,  sensitive  and 
ambitious  boy. 

Then  the  trial  began,  and  the  de-formation  of  his 
better  instincts.  While  his  young  mind  was  nervously 
tracing  its  large  ambition  a  family-council  was  disposing 
of  his  body  and  soul,  without  a  glance  at  anything  but 
his  foot.  A  valet  met  him  at  the  coach-office  at  Paris 
and  took  him  straight  to  school.  Where  were  his 
parents  .''  Where  was  Versailles  ?  The  little  lips 
contracted.  He  found  himself  in  the  dull,  stuffy 
atmosphere  of  one  of  the  oldest  schools  in  Paris,  the 
College  d'Harcourt  (now  the  Lycee  St.  Louis).  It  lay 
just  off  the  present  Boulevard  Michel,  its  grounds 
touching  those  of  the  Cordeliers.  It  was  a  recognised 
school  for  children  of  good  families  ;  in  fact,  his  father 
left  him  to  pay  in  later  years  for  his  own  education. 
At  dinner  on  the  first  day  he  sat  next  to  a  future 
ambassador,  a  nephew  of  the  great  Choiseul.  He  shared 
the  room  and  tutor  of  a  cousin.  But  the  teachers  were 
poor  (except  his  teacher  of  philosophy),  and  were  chiefly 


6  X^aUe^ran^ 

expert  in  the  "Almanach  de  la  Cour."  In  the  course  of 
his  four  years  there  Talleyrand  picked  up  a  fair  acquaint- 
ance with  the  subjects  taught  at  the  time  —  French 
history  and  letters,  logic  (greatly  esteemed  at  Paris,  and 
of  very  obvious  influence  on  his  papers  afterwards), 
rhetoric,  Latin,  philosophy,  and  a  little  mathematics. 
He  was  industrious  and  an  assiduous  reader. 

Long  afterwards  his  experience  of  the  College 
d'Harcourt  was  to  lend  colour  to  his  denunciation  of 
pre-Revolutionary  education.  But  the  poorness  of  his 
intellectual  training  was  the  smallest  sin  committed 
against  him  in  those  days.  The  neglect  of  his  character, 
his  personality,  was  fatal.  An  affectionate  interest  on 
the  part  of  his  parents  might  have  prepared  him  for 
the  coming  disappointment,  but  it  was  wholly  denied. 
In  his  memoirs  he  speaks  with  a  singular  respect  of 
them  ;  at  one  time  he  even  ventures  to  suggest  that 
they  probably  kept  away  from  him  lest,  in  their  great 
love,  they  should  lose  the  courage  to  carry  out  the 
resolution  to  commit  him  to  the  Church  !  His  father 
lived  until  1788  and  his  mother  until  1809,  yet  he 
never  spent  a  week  under  the  same  roof  with  them. 
On  Sundays  one  of  the  teachers  would  take  him  to 
dine  with  them,  and  after  a  formal  hour  or  two  his 
father  would  pat  his  head  and  tell  him  to  "be  good 
and  obey  Monsieur  I'Abbe."  His  finer  qualities  were 
irreparably  neglected.  His  school-fellows  were  good 
comrades,  but  the  eternal  dulness  of  the  place  and 
the    restraint   of  his    parents    depressed    him.       It    was 


XTbe  trainiiiG  of  a  H)lplomatist  7 

not  an  uncommon  experience  in  this  regard.  You 
find  much  the  same  complaint  about  their  school-days 
in  the  memoirs  of  most  of  his  contemporaries.  The 
particular  difficulty  in  Talleyrand's  case  was  the  absence 
of  any  encouraging  words  about  the  future.  By  this 
time  he  had  begun  to  think  about  it.  Gradually, 
he  understood  hints  that  it  was  not  the  fine  halls 
of  Versailles  or  the  adventures  of  the  camp,  but 
the  sombre  world  of  the  Church,  to  which  he  was 
destined.  In  his  twelfth  year,  about  the  end  of  his 
college  days,  he  caught  the  small-pox,  and  was  hurried 
off  to  the  house  of  a  strange  nurse  in  the  Rue  Saint- 
Jacques.  Somehow  he  survived  the  deadly  treatment 
usual  at  that  time — great  fires  and  hermetically-sealed 
windows — and  escaped  marking.  But  in  his  con- 
valescence he  pondered  again  on  the  absence  of  his 
mother. 

The  time  had  now  come  for  an  open  statement 
about  his  future.  It  seems  probable  that  he  was  sent 
then,  in  1766,  to  visit  his  uncle,  who  had  just  become 
coadjutor  to  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims.  It  is  likely 
enough  that  his  parents  would  try  to  seduce  him  from 
military  ambition  by  a  sight  of  the  archbishop-count's 
brilliant  ecclesiastical  court,  and  Talleyrand  affirms  in 
his  memoirs  that  he  was  taken  from  the  college  to 
Rheims.  However,  it  was  probably  some  time  later  that 
he  spent  a  year  with  his  uncle,  as  he  talks  of  being  in  his 
fifteenth  year.  Mme.  de  Genlis  says  that  she  saw  him  at 
Rheims    in    his   "eleventh    or    twelfth"   year,    but    she 


8  Ualle^ranb 

describes  him  as  wearing  a  soutane,  so  that  she  also 
probably  refers  to  a  later  date.  Whether  or  no  he  then 
visited  Rheims,  it  is  clear  that  in  his  twelfth  or  thirteenth 
year  he  was  sent  to  Saint  Sulpice,  and  shrank  to  find 
himself  in  the  soutane. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  recall  that  this  was  a 
common  practice  in  the  eighteenth  century  in  France, 
and  in  many  other  times  and  places.  Bossuet  and 
Fenelon  had  protested  religiously  against  the  custom, 
but  it  continued  to  the  full,  almost  without  a  single 
complaint,  in  Talleyrand's  day.  The  effect  on  the 
Church  itself  was  disastrous.  Scores  of  younger  or 
illegitimate  sons  of  the  nobility  were  forced  into  it 
against  their  inclination,  and  they  adopted  within  it  the 
Voltairean  scepticism  and  the  looseness  of  morals  which 
the  Army  or  the  Court  would  have  sanctioned.  Just 
at  the  crisis  of  its  fortunes  the  Church  found  at  its 
head  such  men  as  the  Cardinal  de  Rohan  (the  patron 
of  Cagliostro — in  exile  anent  the  famous  necklace), 
Lomenie  de  Brienne  and  Dillon.  It  had  not  spoken 
a  syllable  of  protest  when  they  were  presented  to  it  for 
ordination,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  securing  the 
revenues,  and  neglecting  the  duties,  of  its  rich  abbeys 
and  bishoprics.  Lomenie  de  Brienne,  in  fact,  had 
deliberately  chosen  the  Church  as  the  best  path  for  his 
ambition,  and  resigned  the  secular  primogeniture. 
During  the  years  of  preparation  for  the  Church  he  was 
designing  the  plan  of  his  archi-episcopal  chateau  and 
dreaming    of  the    political    leadership    of    the    country. 


Zbc  training  of  a  diplomatist  9 

Most  of  them,  like  Talleyrand,  were  put  into  the 
Church  so  as  to  relieve  the  strain  on  the  king's  coffers 
at  its  expense.  It  had  been  decided,  and  was  afterwards 
formally  decreed,  that  no  commission  in  the  army  should 
be  given  to  any  but  a  noble,  and  still  the  supply  was 
excessive  ;  though  the  King's  personal  service  cost  forty 
million  livres  a  year,  and  that  of  the  Queen  a  further 
five  millions.  Then  they  turned  to  the  Church,  with 
its  income  ot  150,000,000  livres  a  year,  as  a  field  for 
younger  sons.  Wealthy  bishoprics  were  appropriated 
to  the  nobility,  and  wealthy  abbeys— the  income  of  the 
Abbot  of  Saint  Germain  at  Paris  was  130,000  a  year — 
were  handed  over  to  them  as  abbes  commendataireSy 
which  might  be  translated  "  absentee  landlords." 

But  I  will  return  presently  to  the  character  of  the 
clergy  on  the  eve  of  the  Revolution.  Though  wealth 
and  prestige  and  political  power  were  to  be  had  in  the 
clerical  profession,  the  young  Talleyrand  bitterly  resented 
his  situation.  By  a  healthy  instinct  he  felt  that,  as  later 
experience  showed,  he  was  totally  unfitted  for  the 
Church.  Hence  he  quickly  developed  a  habit  of  silent 
and  cynical  observation,  of  disregard  for  authority  and 
conventional  ideals,  and  of  unhealthy  isolation  and  self- 
possession.  Many  years  afterwards  an  emigrant  bishop, 
who  had  been  a  schoolfellow  of  his  at  Saint  Sulpice, 
recalled  how  he  used  to  say  to  his  one  or  two  close 
friends  :  "  They  want  to  make  a  priest  of  me,  but  they 
will  have  an  unpleasant  time  of  it."  He  himself  says 
that  he  hardly  spoke  a  word  during  the  first  three  years 


at  the  seminary.  His  recreation  hours  were  spent  in  its 
splendid  library,  where  he  sought  especially  the  lives  of 
statesmen  "and  moralists,"  works  of  travel  and  adventure, 
and  books  that  described  all  kinds  of  violent  movements 
and  upheavals  in  Nature  and  the  social  order.  He  had 
not  the  temperament  of  a  revolutionary  ;  his  experience 
and  reading  led  rather  to  a  complete  atrophy  of  his 
power  of  devotion  to  an  idea  or  an  institution.  In  his 
theology  he  would  read  how  the  service  of  religion 
demanded  perfect  ministers — "victims  without  blemish," 
in  the  words  of  the  Church  ;  yet  his  superiors  blandly 
accepted  those  who  were  rejected  by  army  or  Court. 
He  saw  injustice  and  hypocrisy  on  every  side,  and 
concluded  that  loyalty  and  devotion  were  masks.  So, 
as  time  went  on,  he  retreated  more  and  more  within 
himself,  made  his  own  interest  the  measure  of  his 
acquiescence,  and  learned  the  essential  qualities  of  a 
diplomatist.  In  later  years  he  saw  advantages  in  the 
training.  It  was  well  to  have  been  thus  "  dipped  in  the 
waters  of  the  Styx."  He  never  spoke  or  wrote  a  harsh 
word  of  his  parents,*  or  of  Saint  Sulpice,  or  of  the 
Church.  "  Well,  God  keep  his  soul,  but  I  like  him," 
said  Pius  VII  of  Talleyrand,  after  his  first  struggle  with 
Napoleon. 

After  two  or  three  years  at  Saint  Sulpice  he  was  sent 
on  a  long  visit  to  his  uncle  at  Rheims.  Archbishop 
Talleyrand  (he  was  then  Archbishop  in  partibus)  was  a 

•  Mr.  Holland  Rose  (Life  of  Napoleon)  is  entirely  wrong  in  speaking 
of  his  "resentment  against  his  parents." 


Ube  training  of  a  H)iplomatist  n 

conscientious  and  high-minded  prelate,  who  suffered 
much  in  after  years  from  the  conduct  of  his  favourite 
nephew.  He  tried  to  reconcile  the  boy  with  his 
profession.  The  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  the  Count  de 
la  Roche-Aymon,  was  a  prelate  of  dignity  and  intellect, 
and  an  imposing  figure  at  archi-episcopal  functions. 
With  his  episcopal  income  and  the  Abbey  of  Saint- 
Germain-aux-Pres  (a  total  annual  income  of  180,000 
livres),  besides  private  means,  he  was  not  one  of  the 
wealthiest  prelates,  but  his  see  was  of  great  importance, 
and  his  splendour  would  have  dazzled  a  youth  with  any 
disposition  to  the  clerical  career.  But  the  encouragement 
of  the  two  prelates  and  all  the  glory  of  their  functions 
were  quite  lost  on  young  Talleyrand.  He  says  in  his 
memoirs  that  all  this  prestige  did  not  seem  to  him  "worth 
the  sacrifice  of  his  sincerity."  That  is  obviously  an 
after-thought.  It  was  an  instinctive  consciousness  of  his 
unfitness  for  the  celibate  state  and  for  religious  ministry 
that  moved  him.  Madame  de  Genlis  saw  him  at  Sillery 
with  his  uncle,  and  noticed  the  pale,  silent  boy,  with  the 
observant  eyes,  in  soutane  and  skull  cap.  He  probably 
noticed  Madame  de  Genlis  in  return,  if  he  did  not  hear 
something  about  that  charming  compound  of  philosophic 
virtue  and  plebeian  vice.  A  few  such  acquaintances  and 
a  few  small  ecclesiastical  dignities  were  all  he  ever 
acquired  at  Rheims. 

He  says  that  his  uncle  put  in  his  way  the  lives  of 
Richelieu  and  Ximenes  and  Hincmar,  and  the  memoirs 
ot    Retz,     to     show    that    the     ecclesiastical    life    had 


12  XTaUe^ran^ 

possibilities.  He  would  hardly  need  assistance  in 
discovering  those  helpful  books.  Now  that  the  Church 
must  be  embraced  he  formed  his  own  view  of  it.  It 
should  serve  as  a  back-door  to  the  pleasant  world  from 
which  they  would  exclude  him.  He  would  rejoin 
young  Choiseul  and  Madame  de  Genlis  by-and-by.  It 
is  a  rather  curious  commentary  on  his  training  at  this 
time  that  a  shrewed  adventuress,  who  saw  a  good  deal  of 
him  under  the  Directorate,  described  him  as  a  mixture  of 
Richelieu's  firmness,  Mazarin's  finesse,  de  Retz's 
versatility,  and  a  little  of  de  Rohan's  gallantry.  He 
may  have  heard,  too,  of  that  questionable  ancestor  of 
his  in  the  fourteenth  century,  the  Cardinal  Helie  de 
Perigord,  in  whose  titular  Church  at  Rome  an  inscription 
recorded  that  "  he  was  weak  in  religion  but  assiduous  in 
worldly  things."  Cardinal  Helie,  a  friend  of  Petrarch, 
had  become  an  influential  politician,  had  made  a  large 
fortune  in  commerce,  and  had  spent  it  pleasantly  in  the 
patronage  of  art  and  luxury. 

These  ideas  would  take  shape  in  time,  as  he 
resigned  himself  to  the  ecclesiastical  condition.  In  the 
circumstances  such  a  resignation  could  only  take  one 
form.  Month  by  month  the  restless  youth,  with  the 
whole  adventurous  history  of  the  Perigords  in  his  veins, 
would  contrast  the  dulness  of  his  surroundings  with  the 
dream  of  his  boyhood.  Had  there  been  a  profound  and 
general  religious  sentiment  in  the  place,  his  earlier  vision 
might  have  been  obliterated  ;  but  Voltaireanism  was  in 
even  the  atmosphere  of  Saint  Sulpice.     There  were  good 


Zbc  trainino  of  a  Diplomatist  13 

and  sincere  priests  in  the  French  Church  then,  as  ever, 
but  some  of  its  most  prominent  representatives  were 
known  sceptics,  and  Hume  and  Voltaire  were  read  in  the 
seminaries.  In  through  the  windows  of  his  prison,  too, 
would  come  the  laughter  of  Paris,  the  sound  of  the 
bugle,  the  flash  of  the  passing  nobility.  A  youth  devoid 
of  any  natural  religious  disposition,  with  a  horror  ot 
ascetic  plainness  and  heavy  religious  formalism,  with  a 
quick,  inborn  faculty  of  irony,  with  a  sensuous  element 
just  beginning  to  stir  in  his  blood,  and  a  temperamental 
craving  for  woman's  society,  could  never  serve  the 
Church.  The  Church  must  serve  him.  He  did  not 
discuss  his  moods  with  anyone.  To  most  of  his 
companions  he  was  morose  and  taciturn.  To  his 
superiors  he  was  a  problem.  One  of  his  school-fellows 
used  to  tell  in  later  years  *  how  on  one  occasion  he  was 
reading  in  the  refectory,  and  he  came  to  a  passage  : 
"And  when  the  Chateau  Tropette."  The  superior 
corrected  him,  and  said  "Trompette."  Talleyrand 
coolly  repeated  the  passage,  and  was  again  corrected. 
He  read  it  a  third  time,  and  quickly  ran  on  before  the 

*I  have  already  ignored  scores  of  stories  about  Talleyrand's  youth. 
The  biographer  has  to  plunge  beneath  a  mass  of  them  to  reach  his  true 
subject.  A  discharged  secretary  of  his,  who  could  imitate  his  signature, 
flooded  Paris  and  London  with  fabricated  letters  and  anecdotes,  and  he 
had  many  rivals  in  the  business.  Writers  like  Bastide,  Pichot, 
Villemarest,  Michaud,  Stewartson,  Touchard-Lafosse,  and  even  Sainte- 
Beuve,  readily  admit  these,  and  some  of  the  best  biographies  contain  a 
few  that  are  inconsistent  with  known  facts.  Such  are  the  stories  of  his 
chalking  Voltairean  verses  on  his  uncle's  garden  wall,  and  of  (in  the 
following  year)  scaling  the  walls  of  Saint  Sulpicc  by  night,  seducing  a  whole 
family,  and  being  imprisoned  in  the  Bastille.  The  dates  or  other  features 
betray  these  apocryphal  legends. 


14  Ualle^rauD 

superior  could  speak,  "  the  Chateau  Tropette,  which  the 
ignorant  have  hitherto  called  the  Chateau  Trompette." 
We  can  well  imagine  that  a  discreet  contempt  of 
authority  and  disdain  of  zeal  were  growing  in   him. 

After  a  time  he  found  the  inevitable  (and  not  unusual) 
means  to  enliven  the  dulness  of  Saint  Sulpice.  He  was 
leaving  the  church  one  rainy  morning  when  he  noticed 
a  pretty  girl  without  an  umbrella.  He  offered  a  share 
of  his,  escorted  her  home,  and  they  saw  each  other 
nearly  every  day  for  a  long  time.  They  were  both 
rebels.  She  had  been  sent  on  the  stage  against  her  wish. 
This  is  the  only  irregularity  Talleyrand  confesses  to  at 
that  time,  and  there  is  no  serious  ground  for  entertaining 
the  wild  stories  of  gambling  and  liaisons.  The  sound- 
ness of  them  may  be  judged  from  the  circumstance  that 
they  suppose  his  father  to  have  died  some  time  before 
(alleging  that  an  uncle  shuts  him  in  the  Bastille),  whereas 
the  father  lived  for  seventeen  years  afterwards.  The 
seminary  authorities  were  not  unwilling  to  purchase  a 
brighter  disposition  in  their  pupil  at  the  price. 
Talleyrand  hints,  too,  that  their  liberality  had  some 
regard  for  his  connections  and  prospects. 

This  episode  belongs  to  his  eighteenth  year.  It  is 
the  only  authentic  detail  we  have  about  his  life  after  his 
stay  at  Rheims  in  1769  until  1774.  In  that  year  we 
find  him  (in  the  records  consulted  by  M.  de  Lacombe) 
competing  for  what  we  should  call  a  fellowship  at  the 
Sorbonne.  The  thesis  he  sustained  there  on  September 
22nd  was  very  edifying  and  successful.     "  What  science 


Ube  trainino  of  a  iDiplomatist  15 

is  most  fitted  for  the  lips  of  the  priest?"  was  the 
question  he  undertook  to  answer,  and  the  published 
discourse  was  piously  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin. 
It  was  his  first  essay  in  diplomacy.  For  priestly  ideals 
he  cared  not  a  tittle.  But  the  world  seemed  to  make  it 
a  curious  condition  of  success  to  do  this  sort  of  thing,  a 
polite  recognition  of  the  particular  ante-chamber  to 
public  life  in  which  you  found  yourself.  The  maxims 
of  Richelieu  and  De  Retz  had  taken  root.  The 
conditions  of  advancement  were  repugnant  to  him,  but 
they  were  not  chosen  by  him.  As  a  young  man  of 
culture  in  a  philosophic  age,  he  could  not  be  expected  to 
take  religion  seriously.  He  had  read  much  more  of 
Hume  and  Locke,  of  Montaigne  and  Voltaire,  than  of 
Suarez.  He  became  a  bachelor  of  theology,  and  drew 
near  to  the  end  of  his  dreary  residence  in  the  seminary. 


CHAPTEE    II 

THE    ABBE    MALGRf    LUI 

It  will  hardly  be  thought  that  up  to  this  point  there  is 
any  mystery  about  the  person  of  Talleyrand.  Many 
types  of  character  were  produced  by  this  enforcement 
of  the  ecclesiastical  profession.  A  few  youths  were 
touched  by  the  better  influences  of  their  surroundings, 
and  nobly  turned  to  the  great  models  of  Bossuet  and 
Fenelon.  A  large  number  drifted  impatiently  through 
the  seminary,  enlivened  it  with  frequent  dips  into  the 
stream  of  Parisian  life,  and  emerged  as  the  philosophic 
abbds  and  bishops  we  shall  meet  presently,  ecclesiastical 
only  in  title  and  purse.  Many  worked  silently  and 
steadily  through  the  years  of  study  with  a  more  or  less 
clear  political  ideal  always  in  mind,  using  the  general 
education  of  the  priest  and  the  specific  training  of  a 
systematised  theology  for  their  ulterior  purposes.  Such 
were  Sieyes,  Talleyrand,  Fouche,  Louis,  Montesquiou, 
Daunou,  Reinhard,  La  Besnardiere.  It  might  have 
been  predicted  at  an  early  stage  that  Talleyrand  would 
fall  in  the  third  class.  Then  the  peculiarly  painful 
circumstances  of  his  exclusion  from  the  more  natural 
career,  which  he  so  much  desired,  would  make  him 
independent,    self-centred,    calculating,    lightly    cynical. 

i6 


Add  a  reasoned  disbelief  in  religious  teaching  (though 
it  is  impossible  to  say  when  this  began),  and  we  can 
surely  understand  Talleyrand  in  his  twentieth  year, 
gravely  discussing  priestly  qualities  from  the  Sorbonne 
pulpit,  while  his  heart  is  at  Versailles.  But  we  are  a 
long  way  advanced  in  the  work  of  interpreting  our 
"  Sphinx." 

About  the  close  of  Talleyrand's  course  of  study  at 
the  seminary,  Louis  XVI  was  to  be  crowned  at  Rheims, 
and  Talleyrand's  parents  invited  him  to  assist  at  the 
ceremony.  His  father  was  to  have  a  function  in  the 
proceedings,  and  his  uncle  would  annoint  the  sovereign 
if,  as  was  feared,  the  aged  Cardinal  de  la  Roche-Aymon 
was  unable  to  do  so.  But  this  effort  of  Talleyrand's 
parents  to  interest  him  in  his  vocation  only  shows  once 
more  how  far  they  were  from  understanding  his 
character.  Looking  back  on  that  splendid  spectacle  of 
the  coronation  through  the  ghastly  fires  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, Talleyrand  said  that  "never  did  so  brilliant  a 
spring  presage  so  stormy  an  autumn,  so  dire  a  winter." 
No  doubt  there  were  statesmen  present  who  tried  to 
look  up  the  darkening  avenue,  and  wondered  how  the 
honest  young  king  and  his  beautiful  queen  would  meet 
the  dangers  that  were  gathering  over  the  impoverished 
country.  To  Sub-Deacon  Talleyrand*  the  spectacle 
must   have   held   another  element   of  tragedy.      At    the 

*  Lady  Blennerhassett  and  most  biographers  wrongly  describe  him 
as  a  priest.  He  was  not  ordained  until  four  years  later.  The  archives 
of  the  Sorbonne,  in  registering  his  application  in  April  and  June,  1775, 
speak  of  him  as  a  sub-deacon. 


1 8  Ii:aUe^ratt& 

time  it  probably  only  afforded  him  a  tantalising  vision 
of  the  gay  world  from  which  they  would  exclude  him. 
Such  prestige  as  the  priest  had,  with  his  golden  cope 
and  sacramental  oil  and  theatrical  asceticism,  was  the 
last  kind  he  would  think  of  seeking.  No  doubt  he  was 
aware  that  it  was  an  age  of  compromise.  He  would  see 
archbishops  (such  as  Dillon  and  De  Brienne),  and 
bishops  and  abbes  without  number,  who  had  their 
helles  amies  and  boxes  at  the  opera.  The  sight  of  them 
made  the  Church  less  intolerable.  He  made  their 
acquaintance,  was  introduced  to  some  of  the  great  ladies 
of  Paris — the  Duchess  de  Luynes,  the  Duchess  de 
Fitz- James,  the  Viscountess  de  Laval,  and  others.  His 
conversation  seems  to  have  shown  already  some  of  the 
sparkle  which  made  it  so  much  sought  later.  He 
pleased.  Some  of  the  most  fashionable  salons  were  open 
to  him,  as  soon  as  the  Church  should  provide  him  with 
an  income. 

The  income  was  on  its  way.  The  story  usually 
runs  that  Talleyrand  was  one  day  in  the  salon  of  Mme. 
du  Barry  with  a  lively  group  of  young  nobles.  She 
noticed  his  silence,  and  asked  what  he  was  thinking  of. 
"Alas!  madame,"  he  is  reported  to  have  said,  "I  was 
thinking  how  much  easier  it  is  to  get  an  amie  than  an 
abbaye  at  Paris."  The  story  concludes  that  he  was  at 
once  rewarded  with  the  abbey  of  St.  Denis,  at  Rheims, 
with  a  revenue  of  18,000  livres.*     As  a  fact,  Talleyrand 

*  On  the  strength  of  this  absurd  story  historians  like  Professor  Sloane 
inform    their   readers   that   Talleyrand    "was   a   friend    of  the   infamous 


Zbc  UbM  /iDalgre  Xut  19 

did  not  see  the  inside  of  Versailles  until  two  or  three 
years  after  the  death  of  Louis  XV,  and  the  disappearance 
of  Mme.  du  Barry.  He  did  not  become  abbe  until 
more  than  a  year  later,  and  was  not  ordained  priest  until 
much  later  still.  M.  de  Lacombe  has  patiently  traced 
his  early  movements  in  the  ecclesiastical  records  at 
Rheims  and  Paris,  and  we  are  able  to  set  aside  most  of 
the  legends  of  his  precocious  gaiety.  However,  he  had 
already  begun  to  climb  the  ladder  of  ecclesiastical 
preferment.  In  January  he  had  been  made  (while  yet 
in  minor  orders)  chaplain  of  the  lady-chapel  in  the  parish 
church  at  Rheims.  He  then  received  the  sub-deaconate, 
and  immediately  after  the  coronation  he  was  chosen  by 
the  clergy  of  Rheims  to  represent  them  at  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  clergy.  This  was  a  singular  distinction 
for  one  of  his  age,  barely  in  sacred  orders  (though  one 
other  sub-deacon  figures  in  the  list  of  deputies),  and  it 
compels  us  to  suppose  that  he  had  won  some  attention. 
A  General  Assembly  of  the  Clergy  met  at  Paris,  as  a 
rule,  every  five  years,  to  discuss  the  more  important 
aflfairs  of  the  French  Church.  Each  ecclesiastical  province 
sent  four  delegates,  two  of  the  order  of  prelates  and  two 
of  the  lower  clergy,  and  they  sat  from  four  to  six 
months,  discussing  their  financial  and  political  relation  to 
the  State,  as  well  as  questions  of  discipline  and  religion. 

Mme.  du  Barry,  and  owed  his  promotion  to  her."  So  the  legendary 
Talleyrand  still  lingers  in  serious  literature.  The  story  contains  a  gross 
anachronism,  and  the  mere  fact  of  the  abbey  being  at  Rheims  pomts  at 
once  to  the  influence  of  Archbishop  Talleyrand  having  obtained  it  for 
his  nephew. 


20  XTallc^ranb 

For  those  who  would  understand  the  conduct  of 
Talleyrand  in  later  years,  especially  his  "betrayal"  of  the 
Church,  it  is  necessary  to  see  these  scenes  of  his  earlier 
clerical  days  as  he  saw  them.  In  the  seminary  he  had 
learned  the  stately  Catholic  ideal  of  the  priest,  but  had 
noted  with  even  keener  eye  how  ready  the  Church  was 
to  compromise  with  it.  At  Rheims  he  had  seen  clearly 
enough  the  relations  of  prelates  and  duchesses,  the  price 
by  which  the  Church  retained  its  prestige  in  a  Voltairean 
world.  At  Paris  the  comedy — rapidly  dissolving  into 
tragedy — would  continue.  In  the  convent  of  the  Grands- 
Augustins  the  thirty-two  prelates,  in  rich  surplices,  sit  in 
their  thirty-two  fauteuils ;  behind  each  prelate  sits,  on  a 
"  chair  with  a  back,"  the  corresponding  delegate  of  the 
lower  clergy  in  black  mantle  and  square  bonnet.  The 
first  great  question  is  :  How  much  is  the  King  going  to 
ask  of  us  ^  For  years  jurists  and  politicians,  and  latterly 
philosophers,  had  murmured  at  the  exemption  of  the 
clergy  from  taxation.  The  Church  had  only  retained  its 
privilege  by  paying  a  few  millions  at  each  assembly  in 
the  form  of  a  "  gratuitous  gift."  But  the  amount  of  the 
gift  was  fixed  by  the  King,  and  it  would  fare  ill  with  the 
clergy  if  they  refused  it.  In  the  increasing  financial 
distress  the  "gifts"  grew  larger  and  more  frequent.  At 
this  particular  Assembly  in  July,  1775,  ^^^  King's 
messengers  announce  that  he  asks  sixteen  millions*  of 
his  devoted  clergy.     Cardinal  de  la  Roche-Aymon,  the 

•  I  speak  throughout  the  work  of  livres  (=  francs)  unless  I  state  other- 
wise.    It  is  not  true  that,  as  is  often  said,  the  sum  was  invariable. 


ZTbe  Hbbe  /iDalgr^  Xui  21 

president,  informs  them  that  they  lay  the  sum  at  his 
feet — reminding  him,  however,  of  his  promise  at  the  last 
Assembly  to  moderate  his  demands — and  the  messengers 
withdraw. 

Then  the  founts  of  clerical  rhetoric  are  opened. 
Talleyrand  observes  in  his  memoirs  that  "  the  inter- 
vention of  conscience  in  these  money  matters  gave  the 
speeches  a  kind  of  eloquence  that  is  peculiarly  at  the 
command  of  the  clergy."  The  Archbishop  of  Auch 
(with  120,000  a  year  from  his  bishopric  alone)  is 
deputed  to  express  the  common  feeling.  They  are 
personally  most  eager  to  help  their  country,  but  the 
resources  they  control  belong  to  the  service  of  God 
and  the  altar.  Is  not  the  King  confusing  their  goods 
with  the  monies  of  "  profane  commerce  "  ?  They  sink 
under  "immense  burdens,"  and  are  "exhausted"  with 
gratuitous  gifts.  [The  Church  has  an  income  of 
150,000,000  livres  a  year.]  Cardinal  de  la  Roche- 
Aymon  (with  one  religious  sinecure  alone  worth  130,000 
a  year)  nods  acquiescence.  Archbishop  Dillon  (160,000 
a.  year  and  odd  sinecures),  Archbishop  de  Brienne  (only 
90,000  as  yet — he  is  not  yet  Prime  Minister),  Arch- 
bishop de  la  Rochefoucauld  (100,000),  and  the  other 
prelates  agree.  Hardly  a  delegate  but  is  abbe  com- 
mendataire  of  some  place  or  other.  The  abbacy  of 
St.  Bernard's  historic  monastry,  where  the  monks  once 
ate  the  leaves  of  the  forest,  is  worth  400,000  a  year. 
The  Benedictines  of  Saint-Maur  (1,672  in  number) 
have  a  revenue  of  8,000,000  livres.     Cardinal  Prince  de 


22  XTalle^rant) 

Rohan  has  a  total  income  of  2,500,000  a  year,  and 
is  heavily  in  debt.  So  is  Dillon,  who  spends  six 
months  of  each  year  in  hunting,  and  a  great  deal  of 
the  rest  in  less  healthy  occupation.  However,  they  will 
contrive  to  find  sixteen  millions  this  time — and  trust 
the  King  will  return  it  in  other  ways.  The  Abbe  de 
P^rigord,*  pale,  silent,  in  black  mantle  and  square 
bonnet,  observes  it  all,  and  makes  (internally)  reflections 
on   venerable  institutions  and  "  zeal." 

In  the  course  of  the  sittings  several  other  questions 
came  on  that  were  not  without  irony.  Chief  amongst 
these  were  the  decay  of  the  monastic  orders  and  the 
growth  of  infidelity  and  Protestanism.  Some  of  the 
most  powerful  prelates  in  the  Assembly,  as  well  as 
many  deputies  of  the  second  order,  were  Voltairean 
in  opinion  and  less  than  Voltairean  in  practice.  All 
joined  in  the  appeals  to  King  and  Pope  to  reform  or 
suppress  the  corrupt  and  decaying  monastic  bodies,  to 
stem  the  flood  of  philosophic  literature,  and  to  arrest 
the  growth  of  Protestantism.  They  were  honest  at 
least  in  their  attack  on  monasticism.  It  was  one  of 
the  ideas  of  the  philosophers,  and  was  rapidly  spreading 
amongst  the  people.  Hardly  a  day  passed  now  without 
an  attack  on  them,  and  Talleyrand  says  that  not  a  pen 
was  lifted  in  their  defence  during  the  twenty  years 
preceding  the   Revolution.      At    the   States-General   in 

*  Talleyrand  signs  the  minutes  (from  which  I  take  my  account)  under 
this  name,  but  he  is  described  in  the  scrutiny  of  titles  as  a  sub-deacon. 
The  title  abbi  was  then  given,  not  only  to  priests  and  cibbi^s  commettiiatai res, 
but  to  many  teachers  and  others  who  never  took  orders. 


Ubc  Hbbe'  /lOalor^  Xui  23 

1789  one  peasant  deputy  arrived  with  instructions  to 
work  for  the  suppression  of  pheasants,  rabbits,  and 
monks.  Besides  the  usual  struggle  to  disavow  the 
feudal  obligations,  which  the  Court  lawyers  were 
constantly  trying  to  fix  on  the  clergy,  the  other 
matters  discussed  were  mainly  disciplinary. 

Such  was  Talleyrand's  initiation  to  the  inner  life  of 
the  Church.  Those  who  regret  that,  when  he  found 
himself  forced  even  involuntarily  into  the  ecclesiastical 
career,  he  did  not  endeavour  to  take  a  religious  and 
self-sacrificing  view  of  it,  will  do  well  to  ponder  these 
spectacles.  Talleyrand's  course  was  natural.  He  used 
the  influence  of  the  president,  who  had  a  strong  liking 
tor  him,  to  enter  the  gayer  group  of  prelates.  Dillon 
and  de  Brienne  opened  a  few  more  of  the  Parisian 
salons  to  him.  In  the  course  of  the  sittings  he  had 
been  made  "  promoteur "  (a  kind  of  sub-secretary, 
usually  given  a  fair  gratuity  at  the  close),  and  was 
appointed  to  an  unimportant  committee  on  the  voting 
counters  and  a  very  important  one  on  religion  and 
jurisdiction.  He  claims  that  he  won  some  distinction 
in  this  Assembly,  and  was  already  marked  for  the  high 
position  of  Agent-General  of  the  Clergy.  In  September 
(1775 — or  eighteen  months  after  Mme.  du  Barry  has 
quitted  the  scene)  we  find  a  notice  in  the  Gazette  that  he 
has  been  appointed  abbe  commendataire  of  the  abbey  of 
St.  Denis  at  Rheims,  which  brought  him  an  income  of 
18,000  livres  a  year.  The  diplomatic  career  thus 
began.       The     Pope    confirmed    the     election    of    the 


24  XI:aUe^ran^ 

sub-deacon  abbe^  and  the  prior  took  possession  in 
Talleyrand's  name  in  December.  As  Chamfort  put  it, 
the  ecclesiastical  bachelor  naturally  looked  to  a  wedding 
with  some  rich  abbey  to  pay  his  debts.  Bishops,  Pope, 
and  King  acquiesced  in  the  system  without  a  murmur. 
All  the  bishops  had  sinecures  of  the  sort,  and  the  Court 
contrived  to  keep  a  few  vacant  at  times  and  pocket  the 
revenues.  Talleyrand  had  not  voluntarily  entered  the 
ecclesiastical  world,  and  he  was  determined  to  make  it 
serve  his  own  ideal  as  far  as  possible.  But  one  of  his 
first  acts  was  to  pay  off  the  debt  his  parents  still  owed 
to  the  College  d'Harcourt. 

Before  going  to  Rheims  he  had  applied  for 
admission  into  the  Society  of  the  Sorbonne  and  been 
accepted  (after  formal  proof  of  his  moral  and  intellectual 
qualities).  He  took  up  residence  there  after  the  close 
of  the  Assembly.  With  his  abbatial  income  (more  than 
;^700  a  year)  and  the  prospect  of  scraps  of  political  and 
administrative  work,  he  could  have  at  once  begun  an 
independent  residence  in  Paris.  But  that  would  have 
left  him  in  the  ambiguous  position  of  a  cleric  and 
celibate,  cut  off  from  the  higher  clerical  distinctions  and 
possibilities.  He  must  now  complete  his  ecclesiastical 
education  in  the  usual  way,  and  proceed  by  way  of  the 
Agency-General  (to  come  in  1780)  to  the  episcopate. 

However,  the  Sorbonne  had  not  an  intimidating 
repute  for  austerity.  The  Abbe  Morellet,  who  had 
lived  there  with  Turgot  and  de  Brienne,  describes  in  his 
memoirs  the  condition  of  the  Sorbonne,  and  the  details 


XTbe  UbM  /IDalor^  Xui  25 

of  what  we  may  call  its  "  fellowships,"  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  Its  library  supplied  him  with  Locke,  Bayle, 
and  Clarke,  as  well  as  with  Bellarmine  and  Aquinas. 
He  read  Voltaire,  and  associated  with  Diderot  and 
d'Alembert.  Theological  studies  of  the  old  type  were 
pretty  well  out  of  fashion.  His  companions  were  very 
generally  imbued  with  the  ideas  of  the  philosophers. 
This  relaxation  of  the  older  discipline  continued  down 
to  the  Revolution,  and  Talleyrand  did  not  find  residence 
there  irksome.  He  stayed  there  two  years,  wrote  the 
customary  theses,  and  took  a  licentiate  in  theology  on 
March  2nd,  1778.  He  never  tried  for  the  doctorate. 
But  we  may  well  believe  that,  as  he  says,  he  was  "  taken 
up  with  quite  other  things  than  theology."  The  success 
of  1775  had  stimulated  him,  and  he  spent  many  an  hour 
in  the  darkened  chapel  before  the  tomb  of  Richelieu. 
He  hints,  too,  that  pleasure  was  his  chief  preoccupation, 
though  this  is  limited  by  a  later  statement  that  he  was 
unable  to  look  up  young  Choiseul  and  find  secular 
friends  until  he  had  left  the  Sorbonne.  About  the 
beginning  of  1778  he  completed  his  theological  training 
and  plunged  in  the  gaieties  of  Parisian  life.* 

So  much  has  been  written  on  the  social  life  of  the 
wealthy  and  noble  classes  in  France  on  the  eve  of  the 
Revolution,  that  I  need  say  little  more  than  that  the 
Abbe  de  Perigord,  as  he  was  now  commonly  styled,  was 
found  in  every  brilliant  salon  and  circle  at  Paris  during 


•  Michaud  tells  that  he  first  attended  lectures  on  constitutional  law 
at  Strassburg  for  a  few  months.     Talleyrand  does  not  mention  this. 


26  ZTalle^rant) 

the  next  ten  years.  "  You  do  not  know  what  it  is  to 
live,"  he  would  say  indulgently  to  the  new  generation 
in  their  restored  gaiety  after  1815.  In  some  few  respects 
the  pace  of  life  had  been  moderated  since  the  days  of 
Louis  XIV,  but  in  others  it  had  increased.  There 
were  no  longer  Pompadours  and  Du  Barrys  at  Versailles, 
but  the  King's  propriety  was  less  noticeable  than  his 
vulgarity* — courtiers  telling  daily  of  his  prodigious 
breakfasts  and  dinners  and  indigestions,  his  antics  when 
they  were  putting  him  to  bed,  and  so  on — and  was  quite 
undone  by  his  weakness.  The  cynical  memoirs  of 
Lauzun  show  how  little  change  there  was  in  the 
character  of  the  Court.  The  imprudence  and  frivolity 
of  the  beautiful  young  Queen,  leaving  Versailles  to  mix 
with  the  masked  crowd  at  the  Opera  when  the  King  had 
gone  to  bed  (and  being  locked  out  by  her  tactless  consort 
at  six  in  the  morning),  or  gambling  heavily  with  her 
ladies  until  day-break,  or  giving  far  too  substantial 
ground  for  charges  of  gallantry,  encouraged  the  rising 
generation  of  nobles  in  their  giddy  dance  in  the  crater 
of  a  rumbling  volcano.  She  was  largely  responsible  for 
the  passion  for  heavy  gambling  that  broke  out.  At 
Marly  her  ladies  had  to  change  their  dresses  after 
playing — soiled  with  the  masses  of  gold  wrung  from  an 
almost  bankrupt  country.  A  vulgar  American 
adventurer  could  get  the  entree  of  Versailles  by  letting  it 
be  known  that  he  had  a  large  sum  of  money  to  lose  ;  he 

"Shall    we    ever    teach    him   to   be   polite?"    sighed   one   noble   to 
Maurepas,  after  a  lesson  from  the  King  on  his  irregularities. 


Front  an  ei/graT'i/ti:. 


TALLEYRAND. 

(A  portrait  taken  in  early  life). 


[p.  26. 


Tlbc  Hbbc  /IDalorc  Xui  27 

won  in  a  short  time  1,500,000  livres  from  his  royal 
shearers.  Another  man  won  1,800,000  livres  in  one 
evening.  The  thoughtless  Count  d'  Artois,  the  King's 
brother,  bet  the  Queen  100,000  livres  that  he  would 
build  a  palace  in  the  Bois  in  six  weeks  ;  he  won  it — and 
the  900  men  he  had  employed  scattered  over  Paris  with 
the  story.  Whoever  could  invent  or  import  a  new 
sensation  was  sure  of  the  Queen's  support.  Racing  was 
introduced  from  England,  and  she  flew  to  Sablons  to  lay 
bets  on  the  horses  of  her  favourite,  the  too  notorious 
Lauzun.  Then  chariot  races  (some  chariots  costing  ten 
thousand  crowns)  varied  the  programme  ;  and  a  society 
was  formed  at  Paris  for  the  construction  of  a  bull-ring. 
Grave  parliamentary  lawyers  and  financial  ministers 
frowned,  and  were  dismissed. 

In  dress,  furniture  and  banquets  the  fashion  was 
equally  luxurious  and  criminal.  The  age  of  Henri 
Quatre  took  the  fancy  of  the  younger  nobles,  and  they 
tried  to  revive  the  splendid  costumes  of  that  time,  but 
the  King  interfered.  Whole  fortunes  were  spent  on 
fantastic  head-dresses.  Ladies  drove  among  the  im- 
poverished people  and  before  bankrupt  tradesmen  with 
structures  two  or  three  feet  high  on  their  heads,  land- 
scapes, symbolic  designs — the  American  Independence 
hat,  the  racing  hat,  the  vaccination  hat,  and  so  on. 
Orders  of  chivalry  were  set  up  by  this  nobility  that  was 
squeezing  the  blood  out  of  the  veins  of  the  peasantry. 
There  was  an  Order  of  Perseverance,  with  statutes  by 
Mme.    de    Genlis,    meetings    in    a    gorgeous    tent     in 


28  ZTaUe^ranD 

Lauzun's  garden,  and  costumes  of  white  and  grey  and 
silver  ;  in  this  edifying  company  the  initiate  had  to 
answer  a  riddle,  reply  to  a  "  moral  question,"  make  a 
speech  in  eulogy  of  some  virtue,  and — vow  to  redress 
injustice  and  succour  the  poor  and  distressed  !  Clotho 
and  Lachesis  must  have  smiled  for  once.  There  were 
rival  Orders  of  Patience  and  Felicity  and  what  not. 
Then  Anglo-mania  crept  into  their  idle  brains,  and  long 
evenings  were  spent  in  discussing  the  excellence  of 
popular  representation  over  tea  and  bread  and  butter, 
and  the  geometrical  gardens  were  Anglicised  at  great 
expense,  and  Gobelins  tapestry  gave  place  to  wall-paper. 
And,  in  fine,  we  get  a  real  novelty  in  the  shape  of 
Cagliostro  with  his  toad  that  had  received  all  the 
Sacraments,  his  innocent  young  girl,  and  his  devils  at 
command.  Cardinal-Prince  de  Rohan,  with  the  two- 
and-a-half  millions  a  year  and  heavy  debts,  with  the 
alb  worth  100,000  livres,  with  the  twenty-five  valets  de 
chambre  and  fourteen  maiires  d' hotel,  had  set  him  up  in 
his  palace  at  Paris  ;  and  dashing  colonels  and  elderly 
countesses  and  philosophic  abb6s  went  to  see  Beelzebub 
in  the  flesh.  And  the  Fourth  Estate  was  coming 
rapidly  to  birth. 

Into  this  giddy  stream  the  Abbe  de  Perigord  gladly 
plunged.  He  was  in  his  twenty-fourth  year,  still  pale 
of  face,  but  with  the  familiar  Talleyrand  features  fully 
developed :  the  quiet  blue-grey  eyes,  so  very  observant, 
under  bushy  eye-brows,  the  nose  pointed  and  slightly 
turned  up,  the  lower  lip  protruding  a  little,  a  faint  smile 


Ubc  Bbbc  /IDalore  Xui  29 

hovering  about  the  mouth,  and  a  fine  crop  of  long,  wavy- 
hair  framing  the  attractive  face.  He  had  taken  a  small 
house  in  the  district  of  Bellechasse  (near  the  Invalides), 
collected  an  excellent  library  of  good  books  in  good 
bindings,  and  at  once  renewed  his  acquaintance  with 
Choiseul,  Count  Louis  de  Narbonne,  and  the  Abbe  de 
Perigord.  They  were  collective  owners  of  a  stable  of 
racers,  and  were  the  nucleus  of  a  group  of  diners  and 
talkers  that  nearly  every  ambitious  woman  must  enter- 
tain. Talleyrand  soon  completed  his  education.  He 
became  a  famous  whist-player  (his  chief  amusement 
through  life),  and  added  a  good  deal  to  his  income  at 
the  tables. 

He  had  in  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique  an  interesting 
and  useful  neighbour  in  the  Countess  de  Genlis.  After 
a  very  romantic  career  she  was  then  in  charge  of  the 
children  of  the  Due  de  Chartres.  In  1779  ^^^  h^<i 
retired  from  the  gaiety  (and  orgies)  of  the  Palais  Royal 
to  train,  on  the  best  moral  and  philosophical  principles, 
the  twin  daughters  of  the  Duchess.  The  Convent  of 
the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Bellechasse  was 
a  favourite  spot  for  "  retreats  "  amongst  the  wealthy 
Parisians,  and  a  house  was  built  in  its  grounds  in  which 
the  retired  countess  could  carry  out  her  work.  Over 
its  street  door — a  grilled,  very  religious-looking  door 
— was  written,  in  gold  characters,  Addison's  excellent 
saying:  "True  happiness  is  of  a  retired  nature  and  an 
enemy  to  pomp  and  noise."  Two  of  the  nuns  guarded 
the  door,  which  was  firmly  closed  at  ten  every  night, 


30  Ualle^ran^ 

and  the  key  was  taken  into  the  convent.  Inside,  beyond 
the  simple  furniture  (she  had  left  her  seven  hundred 
pounds'  worth  of  mirrors  in  her  salon  at  the  Palais),  all 
was  calmly  educative.  Busts  of  great  and  good  men, 
maps,  historical  tablets,  &c.,  abounded.  So  Mme.  de 
Genlis  in  her  memoirs.  She  was  just  such  a  neighbour 
as  Talleyrand  would  appreciate  at  that  time.  With  the 
same  ever-flowing  pen  she  would  write  a  most  edifying 
book  on  moral  education,  a  Jacobin  speech  for  the  Duke, 
and  an  erotic  novel.  Her  moral  writings  testified,  as 
E.  de  Goncourt  says,  to  "  the  ease  with  which  her 
imagination  could  find  a  substitute  for  experience." 
All  Paris  descended  on  the  model  teacher's  dwelling 
in  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique.  There  being  a  royal 
princess  (the  infant)  in  the  house  men  could  enter  the 
enclosure  ;  and,  says  Talleyrand,  in  one  of  his  caustic 
moments,  she  "  always  yielded  at  once  so  as  to  avoid 
the  scandal  of  coquetry."  Heavy  gambling  went  on 
under  the  Addisonian  maxim.  One  youth  lost  13,000 
louis  there.  Talleyrand  was  a  very  frequent  visitor, 
and  an  assiduous  observer.  "  When  you  see  much  of 
men,"  said  his  cynical  friend,  Chamfort,  "  your  heart 
must  break  or  bronze."  Talleyrand  was  not  afflicted 
with  a  tender  heart.  His  own  house  at  Bellechasse 
soon  became  the  centre  of  a  brilliant  circle  of  talkers. 
Though  he  rarely  went  to  bed  before  three  or  four  he 
was  up  early,  and  was  joined  by  his  friends  over  a  cup 
of  chocolate.  He  had  a  peculiarity  in  the  heart-beat, 
to   which   he  attributed   his   power   of  dispensing   with 


Front  an  engraving,  nfler  a  picture  by  Retsch. 
MADAMF.    DK   GENLIS. 


[p-  3o- 


Zbc  Ubbi  ilbalQvc  %x\i  31 

sleep.  He  ate  little — a  cup  of  chocolate  or  a  biscuit 
and  glass  of  Madeira  during  the  day,  and  a  choice 
dinner  in  the  evening.  But  his  wine,  his  coffee,  and 
his  cook  were  carefully  chosen,  his  toilet  elaborately 
neat.  One  of  the  most  cultured  groups  in  the  city 
used  to  gather  at  his  house  in  the  morning.  Choiseul 
was  the  best  of  the  group,  and  it  is  gratifying  to  find 
Talleyrand  speaking  of  him  in  the  later  days  with  real 
affection.  He  was  an  animated  talker  and  a  Sfood 
scholar,  but  he  departed  presently  for  the  Embassy  at 
Constantinople.  Few  of  the  others  are  spared  in  the 
terrible  memoirs.  He  might  have  said  with  Chamfort, 
if  he  had  deigned  to  borrow  a  phrase  :  "  I  have  friends 
who  love  me,  friends  who  don't  care  a  pin  about  me,  and 
friends  who  detest  me."  But  their  daily  talks  were  one 
of  the  events  of  Parisian  life.  Most  of  them  were,  or 
became.  Academicians.  There  was  the  boisterous  young 
colonel,  Count  Louis  de  Narbonne,  the  third  of  the 
trinity,  a  hard  military  student,  but  jovial  in  company 
beyond  the  limit  of  taste.  There  was  Colonel  Lauzun 
(later  Due  de  Biron),  who  had  begun  his  gallant 
adventures  at  seventeen,  and  contracted  a  debt  of  a 
million  and  a  half  by  his  thirty-fourth  year  ;  who  often 
shot  with  the  King,  and  boasted  of  the  affection  of  the 
Queen.  Later  (when  he  came  out  of  his  third  prison) 
there  was  young  Mirabeau, "  the  tribune  of  the  people," 
with  the  huge,  pock-marked  face,  and  the  sonorous 
denunciation  of  the  social  order  that  persecuted  him. 
Of  older  men,  there  were  the  Abbe   Delille,  the  chief 


32  Ualle^rant) 

poet  of  the  time,  friend  of  Voltaire,  an  ahbe  com- 
mendataire  (30,000  livres)  with  "the  face  of  an  infant," 
the  pen  of  a  libertine,  and  the  ideas  of  a  philosopher : 
Chamfort,  of  the  "electric  head"  (it  bristled  so  with 
ideas),  living  now  with  the  widow  of  Helvetius,  pouring 
out  vitriolic  doses  on  humanity  in  all  its  aspects,  but 
secretly  writing  Mirabeau's  and  Talleyrand's  elevated 
democratic  speeches — "  How  many  fools  does  it  take  to 
make  a  public?"  he  used  to  ask:  Count  Lauraguais, 
very  cultured  and  a  generous  patron  of  science  and 
letters  :  Panchaud,  the  Swiss  banker,  greatly  esteemed 
by  Talleyrand,  "  the  only  man  in  France  who  could 
make  the  goose  with  the  golden  eggs  lay  without 
cutting  its  guts  out,"  said  Mirabeau  :  Barthez,  the 
doctor-philosopher,  editor  of  the  Encyclopedia :  Ruehiere, 
the  young  historian  of  Russia  :  Dupont  de  Nemours, 
the  famous  young  economist. 

Conversation  would  not  lack  variety  or  brilliance 
amongst  such  a  group.  Talleyrand's  assemblies  began 
to  be  talked  about.  He  was  invited  "  more  or  less 
everywhere,"  and  went.  He  was  already  sufficiently 
detached  from  the  idea  of  partisanship  to  find  his  way 
about  amongst  the  conflicting  salons.  The  houses  of 
twenty  noble  dames  were  the  centre  for  as  many  parties — 
of  the  King,  of  the  Queen,  of  d'Artois,  of  the  Due 
d'Orl^ans,  of  Turgot,  and  Choiseul,  and  Necker,  and  de 
Rohan,  and  de  Brienne,  and  so  on.  Talleyrand  over- 
looked their  political  differences,  except  for  a  tactical 
opposition    to     Necker,    and     enjoyed     their     graceful 


Uhc  Bbbc  /IDalore  Xui  33 

friendship  and  influence.  He  went  to  the  Palais  Royal, 
where  the  Due  de  Chartres  (later  d'Orleans,  and  finally 
Egalite)  was  wearing  out  his  useless  life — "  his  vices," 
says  Talleyrand,  in  one  of  those  phrases  that  were 
gaining  him  respect,  or  at  least  neutrality,  "  his  vices 
knew  no  bounds  but  the  limit  of  his  imagination  and 
that  of  those  about  him."  Those  about  him  had  not 
infertile  imaginations.  Talleyrand  was  taken  by  Arch- 
bishops Dillon,  de  Brienne,  and  Cic6,  to  the  house  of 
Mme.  de  Montesson  (secretly  married  to  the  Due 
d'Orleans),  and  was  granted  a  seat  in  the  box  reserved 
for  "more  or  less  dissipated  clerics"  (his  own  phrase)  in 
the  private  opera-house  where  Madame  and  the  Duke 
and  other  noble  amateurs  performed.  He  found  her 
house  "  at  the  furthest  limit  of  decency,  but  very 
pleasant."  It  is  the  only  place  at  which  he  speaks  of 
meeting  his  spiritual  leaders.  Lomenie  de  Brienne  had 
been  proposed  to  the  King  for  the  archbishopric  of 
Paris.  "But  surely,"  said  Louis,  "the  archbishop  of 
Paris  should  be  a  man  who  believes  in  God."  It  did 
not  seem  to  matter  at  Toulouse.  He  went  also  to  the 
Hotel  de  Rohan,  where  the  adventurer,  Cagliostro,  with 
the  olive  complexion  and  brilliant  eyes,  was  exhibiting 
the  devil  to  people  who  did  not  believe  in  God.  At 
Mme.  de  Montesson's  he  one  early  day  made  a  feeble 
joke  to  the  Duchess  de  Gramont,  the  sister  of  Choiseul, 
and  several  doors  were  immediately  opened  to  him. 
Once  a  week  he  took  his  own  brilliant  group  to  dinner 
at   the    house    of    Mme.    d'Hericourt.       The    Swedish 

3 


34  ZTallc^ran^ 

minister  instituted  another  day  for  them,  but  the  dinner 
was  killed  by  forcing  the  talkers  to  listen  to  long 
readings — the  craze  of  the  hour.  Another  house  he 
visited,  at  Auteuil,  was  that  of  the  Countess  de 
Boufflers-Rouvrel  ;  and  at  the  house  of  her  next-door 
neighbour,  Mme.  Helvetius,  he  would  find  Chamfort  at 
home,  with  the  Abbe  Sieyes,  the  later  constitution 
maker,  and  Cabanis,  the  materialist. 

The  only  house  which  he  visited  with  any  particular 
freedom,  besides  that  of  his  mother  and  that  of  Mme.  de 
Genlis,  was  that  of  the  Countess  de  Flahaut,  at  the 
Louvre.  Governor  Morris,  the  American  Envoy,  affirms 
that  he  found  Talleyrand  helping  to  give  her  a  foot- 
bath there  one  morning.  Her  son,  born  in  1785,  was 
pretty  generally  accredited  to  Talleyrand,  but  in  an  age 
of  myths  and  scandals  exact  determination  is  as  difficult 
as  it  is  superfluous. 

He  shared  the  celebrated  dinners  of  Mme.  de 
Reyniere,  saw  the  deistic  Abbe  Delille  dine  with  the 
Queen  at  Mme.  de  Polignac's,  and  went  to  "  learned  and 
tiresome  concerts "  at  Mme,  Lebrun's  (the  artist), 
M.  d'Albaret's,  and  the  Count  de  la  Rochechouart's. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  he  was  merely 
tolerated  in  these  circles.  He  was  sought  and  esteemed. 
It  is  said  that  he  was  generally  one  of  the  last  to  enter 
a  salon,  limping  slightly,  faultlessly  dressed  in  blue  coat 
and  white  vest  and  chamois  breeches  (unless  it  were 
advisable  to  remember  the  soutane),  and  there  was  an 
appreciable    movement   towards   him.      His    biting   wit 


Ubc  Bbbe  ilDaltjie  Xui  35 

and  quick  repartee  soon  forced  people  to  reckon  with 
him.  One  never  knew  when  his  deep,  deliberate  voice 
would  break  in  with  effect.  "  I  don't  know  why  people 
don't  like  me,"  one  man  was  saying  ;  "  I  have  only 
done  one  wrong  thing  in  my  life."  "When  will  it  be 
over.?"  asked  Talleyrand.  "  Sieyes  is  deep,"  said 
another  to  him.  "You  mean  hollow,"  he  at  once 
replied.  A  lady  once  asked  him,  in  a  period  of  difficulty, 
how  his  affairs  were  going.  One  version  has  it  that  she 
asked  how  his  legs  were.  "As  you  see,  madame,"  he 
suavely  answered.  The  lady  squinted.  His  liberal 
ideas  were,  of  course,  an  advantage.  "  He  dresses  like 
a  fop,  thinks  like  a  deist,  and  preaches  like  an  angel," 
said  someone  ;  though  we  have  no  trace  whatever  of  his 
ever  delivering  sermons.  But  it  was  the  age  of  the 
philosophers.  Talleyrand  disliked  the  more  consistent 
and  more  advanced  of  them,  such  as  Condillac,  Helvetius, 
d'Holbach,  and  the  Abbe  Raynal,  because  they  not  only 
destroyed  superstition,  but  "  broke  the  links  of  the 
moral  and  social  order" — such  as  it  was.  But  this 
was  written  twenty  years  afterwards.  He  was  never 
caught  by  the  charlatanry  of  Jean-Jacques,  He  greatly 
esteemed  Voltaire,  and  took  care  to  be  presented  to 
him  when  he  came  to  Paris  and  was  feted  to  death  in 
1778.  The  myth-makers  of  later  years  describe  how 
he  went  on  his  knees  for  the  aged  philosopher's 
blessing. 

I  will  only  add,  to  complete  Talleyrand's  environ- 
ment about  this  time,  that  he  had   relations   also   with 


36  xraUe\?ranD 

most  of  the  retired  statesmen  of  the  day,  Maurepas, 
Malesherbes,  Choiseul  and  Turgot,  and  with  the  chief 
scientific  workers,  La  Place,  Condorcet,  Lagrange, 
Monge,  &c.  Of  this  I  will  say  more  presently. 
Enough  has  been  said  to  elucidate  the  progress  of 
Talleyrand's  character  up  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 
The  work  which  I  have  to  describe  in  the  next  chapter 
will  prevent  one  from  thinking  that  his  time  was  wholly 
spent  in  pleasure  or  devoted  to  the  task  of  social 
advancement.  From  1780  onwards  he  was  a  most 
assiduous  worker,  and  must  have  been  an  industrious 
student  before  that  time.  But  he  tasted,  at  least,  every 
part  of  the  life  of  Paris  in  those  ten  years  at  Bellechasse. 
I  do  not  mean  that  he  devoured  all  that  it  offered.  He 
was  an  essentially  temperate  and  refined  man.  He 
played  for  heavy  stakes,  as  most  people  did  ;  there  were 
some  4,000  gambling  houses  at  Paris  when  the 
Revolution  began,  to  say  nothing  of  salons,  from  that  of 
the  Queen  at  Marly  downwards.  But  this  is  the  only 
irregularity  he  admits  ;  though,  of  course,  the 
"Memoirs"  are  not  "Confessions."  The  Baron  de 
Vars  has  compiled  a  work  on  Les  femmes  de  Talleyrand. 
There  is  only  one  on  the  list,  Mme.  de  Flahaut,  besides 
the  pretty  actress  of  Saint-Sulpice  and  the  lady  he 
eventually  married,  with  whom  his  name  is  connected 
by  any  show  of  evidence.  At  the  same  time  it  would 
be  absurd  to  claim  for  him  any  prohibitive  principles  in 
such  matters.  He  took  a  mind  almost  swept  of  ideals 
into   a  world  where,  one   social    writer  says,  you   could 


Ubc  Hbb^  {JS^tilQve  %x\i  37 

count  the  families  that  were  not  stained  with  incest  : 
where,  at  all  events,  almost  every  man,  from  princes  and 
cardinals  down  to  butchers  and  abbes,  had  a  mistress. 
He  was  no  hypocrite.  The  Church  and  the  world  alike 
expected  too  little  of  him  for  that. 


CHAPTER   III 

Priest    and    Bishop 

Talleyrand  had  already  spent  two  years  of  this  kind 
of  life  when  he  was  ordained  priest.  In  a  biographical 
inquiry  it  is  only  necessary  to  point  out  that  the 
priesthood  was  required  for  his  purpose.  Possibly  he 
thought  of  his  parents,  as  some  biographers  suggest. 
However  regrettable  his  life,  he  was  a  noble,  and 
must  not  remain  a  minor  cleric.  In  any  case,  he 
would  see  that  the  only  entrance  to  the  higher  political 
world,  along  the  path  into  which  he  had  been  forced, 
was  the  episcopate.  He  could  not  be  expected  to 
foresee  the  upheaval  of  1789,  which  would  make 
possible  the  rise  of  such  men  as  Sieyes.  In  1780  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Clergy  would  meet  again,  and 
he  had  ground  to  believe  that  he  would  be  appointed 
Agent-General.  From  this  important  position  one 
usually  passed  to  the  episcopate.  After  such  an 
experience  as  his  had  been  he  would  very  well  leave 
it  to  the  Church  to  settle  its  own  credit  in  the 
matter. 

In  September  (1779)  he  asked  his  uncle,  in  a 
letter  which  is  extant,  to  receive  him  into  the  Rheims 
clergy.     The   Archbishop  of  Paris  was  a  conscientious 

3^ 


priest  an&  Bisbop  39 

prelate,  where  it  was  still  possible  to  consult  conscience. 
Archbishop  Talleyrand  (he  had  succeeded  Roche-Aymon 
in  1777)  consented  and  obtained  his  transfer  from 
Paris.  He,  too,  was  one  of  the  better  prelates  of  the 
time,  but  he  doubtless  thought  he  could  influence  his 
gay  nephew.  He  was  transferred  on  September  17th 
and  ordained  deacon.  Three  months  later  (December 
1 8th)  he  was  ordained  priest  in  the  chapel  of  the 
archbishopric*  Choiseul  was  with  him,  and  made  a 
strong  appeal  to  him  to  desist.  He  said  it  was 
impossible.  All  that  we  shall  learn  of  Talleyrand  in 
the  chapters  to  come  justifies  us  in  thinking — nay, 
compels  us  to  think — that  he  took  the  step,  not  with 
a  cynical  levity,  but  with  great  reluctance.  The  qualities 
of  refinement  and  humanity  he  never  surrendered. 

On  May  loth,  1780,  he  was  nominated  by  the 
clergy  of  Tours  (where  he  now  had  a  second  chaplaincy) 
Agent-General  for  the  next  five  years.  This  was  a 
position  of  the  first  political  importance  in  the  French 
Church.  The  Agent-General  was  the  connecting  link 
between  the  two  powers,  secular  and  ecclesiastical,  and 
by  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  he  needed  some 
competence  in  diplomacy,  as  well  as  a  fair  administrative 
faculty  for  domestic  matters,  especially  of  finance.  Two 
were  appointed  by  the  various  provinces  in  rotation 
before  each  General  Assembly,  and  they  held  office  and 

*  M.  de  Lacombe  has  investigated  all  the  documents  at  Rheiras,  and 
so  cleared  up  the  mystery  of  his  ordination — a  mystery  which  had 
emboldened  the  myth-makers  to  say  he  received  the  episcopate  whilst  in 
minor  orders. 


40  'Q:alle^ranb 

guarded  the  interests  of  the  Church  until  the  next 
ordinary  Assembly.  If  Talleyrand  had,  as  promoteur 
at  the  last  Assembly,  left  the  chief  share  of  the  work 
to  his  colleague,  the  case  was  very  different  now.  His 
fellow-agent  was  the  Abbe  de  Boisgelin,  cousin  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Aix,  and  Vicar-General  of  that  diocese, 
an  indolent,  incompetent,  and  disreputable  priest.  He 
shared  the  fruits  and  prestige  of  Talleyrand's  labours, 
but  not  the  work  itself.  In  fact  Talleyrand  says  that 
a  scandal  supervened  immediately,  and  made  it  advisable 
to  keep  him  in  the  background. 

These  General  Assemblies  did  not  vary  much  in 
their  chief  features,  so  that  little  need  be  said  of  that  of 
1780.  Only  two  deputies  (one  of  each  order)  were  sent 
from  each  of  the  provinces,  and  the  Cardinal-Archbishop 
of  Rouen  took  the  chair.  The  King  now  asked  thirty 
millions,  and  Talleyrand  was  directed  to  wait  on  him  at 
Versailles  and  say  that  his  faithful  clergy,  though 
"  exhausted  by  its  gifts,"  would  find  the  money  ;  he 
was  to  add  a  hint  (with  an  eye  to  the  increasing 
attacks  on  the  Church's  property)  that  the  King  would 
doubtless  see  the  wisdom  of  not  killing  the  goose. 
Talleyrand  would  not  lose  his  opportunity  at  Versailles. 
There  were  the  usual  indignant  discussions  of  the  claim 
of  the  Crown  lawyers  to  exact  feudal  service  from  the 
clergy,  and  violent  attacks  on  Voltaire  and  the  "  formid- 
able deluge  "  of  improper  literature  that  was  poured 
over  the  whole  country.  The  Assembly  sat  from  May 
to    October.      Talleyrand    was    now    so    secure    in    his 


Ipriest  an&  Bisbop  41 

position    that    he    even    claims    that    this    "  lent    some 
prestige  to  his  Agency." 

Two  years  later  he  had  to  summon  the  clergy  to  an 
Extraordinary  Assembly  at  the  Grands-Augustins.  The 
King's  letter  which  he  had  to  submit  to  his  colleagues 
must  have  appealed  to  his  diplomatic  sense.  Louis  XVI 
declared  that,  though  there  had  been  unforeseen  losses 
in  connection  with  the  help  given  to  America,  he  had  no 
actual  need  to  appeal  to  the  country.  But  the  fact  was 
that  every  class  seemed  so  eager  to  contribute  towards 
covering  these  losses,  and  he  could  not  think  of 
excluding  his  devoted  clergy  from  a  share.  He 
therefore  graciously  permitted  them  to  assemble  in 
extraordinary  session  in  1782.  Talleyrand  was  charged 
to  explain  to  the  Assembly  why  the  King  had  altered 
his  mind,  and  not  kept  the  solemn  promise  that  he 
would  ask  no  more  money  until  1785.  The  fifteen 
millions  were  granted  as  usual,  and  the  clergy  added 
a  million  to  be  applied  to  the  relief  of  the  poor 
families  who  had  suffered  by  the  war.  Talleyrand  went 
further,  and  pressed  one  of  the  prelates  to  urge  the 
granting  permission  to  re-marry  to  the  Breton  women 
whose  husbands  had  disappeared  without  any  definite 
proof  of  death.  He  says  that  the  prelate  saw  no 
advantage  to  himself  in  making  a  motion,  and  so  the 
matter  was  not  brought  before  the  Assembly.  Bad 
books  occupied  more  attention  than  ever.  A  complete 
edition  of  Voltaire  was  being  printed  at  Kehl,  and  was 
expected  at   Paris  with  the  most  open   rejoicing.     The 


42  Xi:aUe^ran& 

deputies  drew  the  King's  attention  to  its  "  monstrous 
obscenities,"  and  petitioned  him  to  prevent  its  circu- 
lation. Talleyrand  had  not  to  sign  this  petition,  but  he 
saw  Lomenie  de  Brienne  and  many  another  Voltairean 
pastor  do  so. 

In  this  Assembly  Talleyrand  himself  made  two 
proposals  of  an  interesting  character.  The  first  was 
that  the  clergy  should  buy  up  the  royal  lottery,  by 
making  the  King  a  "gratuitous  gift"  every  year  to 
cover  the  profits  missed.  His  colleagues  were  not 
sufficiently  moved  by  his  eloquent  denunciation  of 
public  gambling  to  make  the  sacrifice.  Some  of  them, 
who  knew  the  Abb6  de  P^rigord's  own  habits,  may  have 
even  smiled.  But  Talleyrand's  aim  was  good,  if  not 
virtuous.  He  saw  that  the  clergy  were  rapidly  losing 
ground,  and  he  felt  that  a  sacrifice  like  this,  in  such 
a  cause,  would  do  much  to  redeem  their  degradation. 
The  memoir  to  present  to  the  King  (and,  of  course, 
publish  afterwards)  "might  have  been  superb,"  he 
observes  with  a  chuckle  ;  he  would  have  been  very 
glad  to  write  it.  The  other  proposal  he  made  was  to 
raise  the  salaries  of  the  lower  clergy.  On  these  fell 
the  real  work  of  maintaining  religion  in  the  country, 
yet  the  cure  had  only  700  livres  (less  than  thirty 
pounds)  a  year  and  his  vicaire  the  miserable  sum  of  350 
livres.  The  episcopate  was,  like  the  army  commissions, 
a  preserve  of  the  nobles,  and  a  great  gulf  yawned 
between  the  two  Orders.  I  calculate  that  the  140 
bishops   of  France   then   drew   about    8,000,000   francs 


priest  ant)  Bisbop  43 

a  year  from  ecclesiastical  sources  alone  ;  and  as  all  were 
nobles,  many  of  them  had  in  addition  huge  private 
incomes  and  some  State  emoluments.  Dillon  had 
160,000  a  year  from  the  Queen's  private  purse  for  his 
amiability.  They  drove  about  Paris  in  gilded  coaches, 
contributed  to  the  opera,  had  opulent  hotels  and 
country  palaces  and  hunting  seats,  and  so  on.  The 
starving  peasantry  were  beginning  to  rebel.  At  the 
Assembly  of  Notables  the  Archbishop  of  Aix  spoke  of 
tithe  as  "  that  voluntary  offering  from  the  piety  of  the 
faithful";  "as  to  which,"  broke  in  the  Duke  de  la 
Rochefoucauld,  "  there  are  now  40,000  cases  on  in 
the  Courts."  The  lower  clergy,  too,  were  forming 
associations  for  the  betterment  of  their  condition.  The 
prelates  heard  this  with  pained  surprise,  but  resisted 
Talleyrand's  motion.  His  earliest  political  efforts,  as 
he  said  afterwards,  failed  because  his  proposals  were 
too  bold  for  his  colleagues.  But  there  can  be  no 
question  as  to  the  wisdom  of  his  counsels.  No  one 
could  at  that  time  have  had  even  the  dimmest  prevision 
of  the  events  of  1 789-1 790 — and  so  we  may  at  once 
reject  Pozzo  di  Borgo's  suggestion  (afterwards)  that 
Talleyrand  from  the  first  took  the  side  of  the  weak 
and  poor  on  subtle  calculation — but  Talleyrand's  view 
of  the  situation  of  the  Church  was  singularly  wise  and 
shrewd,  and  his  suggestions  were,  as  we  now  very 
clearly  see,  wholly  to  its  advantage.  Nor  can  we 
with  justice  ignore  the  clear  strain  of  humanity  that 
is  seen  in  the  young  abbe's  proposals  in   favour  of  the 


44  UalleKanb 

Breton  widows  (whom  he  had  seen  in  their  native  home) 
and  the  lower  clergy.  In  the  latter  instance  he  was 
even   endangering  his  interest  with  the  prelates. 

Talleyrand's  labours  as  Agent-General  had  the  effect 
that  he  desired.  If  the  Church  would  not  listen  to  wise 
advice  it  must  go  its  way.  For  him  its  work  was  an 
instrument,  and  he  used  it  with  success.  His  various 
reports  on  their  labours  to  the  Conseil  du  Roi  brought 
him  in  contact  with  his  real  fellows.  Before  his  Agency 
was  over  he  had  won  the  notice  and  esteem  of  the  first 
minister.  But  I  will  conclude  this  account  of  his  clerical 
work  before  tracing  his  earliest  political  action.  The 
clergy  greatly  appreciated  his  ability.  At  the  Assembly 
of  1785  he  was  elected  secretary,  with  the  Abbe  de 
Dillon,  and  one  day  the  president  rose,  after  a  speech 
from  Talleyrand,  to  exhibit  him  to  his  colleagues  as  a 
model  of  zeal  !  The  report  of  their  Agency  which  he 
and  Boisgelin  sent  in  was  received  with  enthusiasm,  and 
described  as  taking  "  a  distinguished  place  amongst  the 
reports  which  adorn  our  annals."  Talleyrand  neglected 
nothing  in  those  early  years.  His  work  was  sound  and 
thorough,  and  at  the  same  time  presented  with  a  rare 
literary  effect.  The  mythopaeic  biographers  of  a  later  date* 

•  I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  necessary  to  point  out  that,  though 
Talleyrand  was  one  of  the  most  tactful  and  forbearing  of  men,  he  was 
bound  to  create  numbers  of  enemies.  When  he  passed  on  from  the 
clergy  and  nobility  to  the  Revolution,  from  the  Directorate  to  Napoleon, 
from  Napoleon  to  the  Restoration,  and  finally  from  the  Bourbons  to  the 
Orleanists,  he  left  a  shoal  of  bitter  enemies  behind  him  at  each  step. 
His  personality,  his  caustic  wit,  and  his  curious  experiences,  formed  an 
excellent  nucleus  for  legends  to  gather  about.  You  have  to  pick  your 
way  through  hundreds  of  tliese  to  reach  the  real  Talleyrand. 


priest  an&  JStsbop  45 

had  private  knowledge  that  he  was  too  lazy  and  too 
incompetent  to  write  a  single  letter,  and  that  every- 
thing was  done  for  him  by  his  associates.  We  know 
that  from  1780  onwards  he  attracted  to  his  help  a 
number  of  capable  men,  M.  Mannay,  Count  Bourlier, 
M.  Duvoisin  (these  three  reaching  their  reward  in 
bishoprics),  and  especially  the  young  Abbe  des  Renaudes. 
He  could  not  have  done  his  work  so  well  single-handed, 
and,  as  a  fact,  he  quite  early  learned  from  Choiseul  the 
rule  to  utilise  subordinates  to  the  fullest  extent.  It  was 
good  statesmanship.  But  it  is  quite  clear  that  he  must 
have  worked  hard.  Thirty  years  afterwards,  long  after 
he  has  exchanged  financial  politics  for  diplomacy,  he 
writes  with  the  pleasure  and  ease  of  an  expert  on  the 
financial  questions  of  1 780-1 790.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  he  thoroughly  understood  them,  and  discussed  them 
on  equal  terms  with  Panchaud,  Foulon,  or  Dupont  de 
Nemours.  And  the  memoirs  themselves  show  that  he 
could  write  ;  he  was  often  seen  to  sit  writing  them  until 
four  in  the  morning.  Sainte-Beuve  himself  admits 
(p.  44)  that  Talleyrand  could  do  some  "fine  writing" 
when  he  cared. 

The  report  he  submitted  in  1785  was  to  be  his 
last  plea  for  a  bishopric.  It  was  the  custom  to  find  a 
benefice  as  a  reward  for  the  Agent-General  when  his 
term  was  over.  Talleyrand,  therefore,  wrote  it  with 
great  care  and  with  plenty  of  that  flattery  which  his 
colleagues  appreciated.  How  he  felt  when  he  spoke 
of  "the  honour  of  being  associated  with  the  labours  of 


46  Ualle\?ran& 

the  first  body  in  the  kingdom,  the  happy  necessity  of 
communicating  with  the  chief  members  of  this  illus- 
trious body,  and  of  maintaining  with  them  relations 
which  their  virtues  and  their  intelligence  have  made 
so  precious,"  we  can  very  well  imagine.  One  only 
wonders  if  he  caught  the  eye  of  his  friends  of  the  Palais 
Royal  when  he  referred  to  the  Archbishop-President, 
Dillon,  as  a  man  "  to  whom  all  offices  have  been  but 
fresh  occasions  to  display  the  nobleness  of  his  character 
and  the  vigour  of  his  patriotic  genius."  Dillon  is  the 
prelate  who,  he  tells  us  elsewhere,  spent  six  months 
every  year  in  hunting,  though  he  had  done  some  good 
work.  In  return  the  archbishop  urgently  recommended 
the  ex-agents  to  the  favour  of  the  King  and  of  Mgr. 
Marboeuf  (who  held  the  feuille  des  benefices^  or  list  of 
vacant  bishoprics).  The  assembly  then  voted,  as  was 
usual,  a  gift  of  24,000  livres  to  each  ex-agent,  and 
further  sums  of  4,000  and  3,000  for  having  discharged 
the  functions  of  promoter  and  secretary.  But  the 
recommendation  for  a  bishopric  fell  very  flat,  to  Talley- 
rand's extreme  annoyance.  The  most  brilliant  Agent- 
General  of  recent  times  was  made  to  wait  three  years 
for  his  reward,  and  saw  one  bishopric  after  another  fall 
to  others.  It  is  said  that  the  king  was  resolutely 
opposed  to  the  consecration  of  so  equivocal  a  candidate, 
but  we  have  no  real  evidence  of  this.  Talleyrand  com- 
plained, in  a  letter  to  young  Choiseul,  of  malice  on  the 
part  of  Marboeuf,  but  it  is  possible  that  the  circumstance 
of  Marbceuf  being  a  religious  man  with  some  firmness 


From  an  engraving,  after  the  (•ainting  by  Chappel. 
MAKIK    ANTOINETTE. 


[p.  46- 


priest  ant)  Bisbop  47 

may  afford  explanation  enough.  Talleyrand's  name  was 
persistently  connected  with  that  of  Madame  de  Flahaut, 
and  at  one  time  with  that  of  the  daughter-in-law  of  Buffon. 
There  was  a  good  deal  of  joking  about  the  prospect  of 
his  consecration.  Chamfort  and  a  group  of  amiable 
ladies  were  marked  out  as  ready  to  accompany  him  to 
his  seat.  It  is  not  impossible  that  Versailles  drew  the 
line — when  it  felt  strong  enough. 

Another  feature  of  the  situation  was  that  he  had 
incurred  the  hostility  of  the  Queen,  and  she  robbed  him 
of  a  cardinal's  hat  in  that  very  year  ;  though  the  hat 
might  have  been  very  much  in  the  way  in  1791.  The 
Countess  de  Brionne  persuaded  the  King  of  Sweden  to 
ask  the  Pope  for  a  hat  for  the  Abbe  de  Perigord.  The 
Pope,  who  at  that  time  was  friendly  with  the  Protestant 
prince,  agreed,  and  the  matter  was  nearly  arranged  when 
the  diamond  -  necklace  affair  happened.  Mme.  de 
Brionnne  sided  with  de  Rohan,  and  Talleyrand  followed. 
The  Queen  took  a  small  revenge  by  getting  the  Austrian 
Ambassador  to  protest  against  another  hat  being  sent  to 
France,  and  Talleyrand  was  disappointed.  Later,  when 
the  archbishopric  of  Bourges  fell  vacant,  and  he  was  passed 
over,  Talleyrand  complained  bitterly  to  his  friend 
Choiseul.  It  was  not  until  the  end  of  1788,  that  he 
became  Bishop  of  Autun. 

In  the  meantime  Talleyrand  had  opened  his  political 
career  on  other  than  ecclesiastical  questions.  I  have 
already  said  that,  whilst  he  lived  at  Bellechasse,  he 
visited   not  only  fashionable  ladies,  savants  and  artists, 


48  zralle^ranb 

but  also  some  of  the  great  statesmen  of  the  last  genera- 
tion. He  met  Maurepas,  a  typical  representative  of  the 
decaying  order,  Malesherbes,  the  great  parlementarian 
and  liberal  reformer,  and  Turgot.  As  Maurepas  and 
Turgot  died  in  178 1,  he  must  have  given  serious 
attention  to  political  matters  as  soon  as,  or  even  before, 
he  left  the  Sorbonne.  With  the  elder  Choiseul  in  his 
retirement  he  would  be  more  closely  connected  through 
his  intimacy  with  the  nephew.  The  outbreak  of  the 
American  war  and  the  departure  of  a  number  of  young 
French  nobles,  had  done  even  more  than  the  prospect 
of  national  bankruptcy  to  arouse  political  interest. 
Franklin's  house  at  Passy  was  beseiged  by  fair  enthusiasts, 
eager  to  embrace  him  ;  his  fur  cap  was  copied  by  every 
dandy  in  Paris,  and  constitutional  problems  were 
discussed  by  young  ladies  in  the  intervals  of  a  dance. 
"The  zeal  for  America  is  simply  sublime,"  says  Michelet ; 
while  Alison  has  opined  that  "  the  American  war  was 
the  great  change  which  blew  into  a  flame  the  embers  of 
innovation."  The  philosophical  party  certainly  tried  to 
give  it  that  character.  When  Lafayette  and  his  nobles 
returned  with  an  account  of  the  glorious  new  constitution 
and  democracy,  the  concrete  instance  led  to  a  more 
general  discussion,  which  was  boldly,  though  in  a  limited 
extent  (for  there  were  no  republicans  yet  to  speak  of) 
applied  to  France.  Talleyrand  was  not  carried  away  in 
the  flood.  He  did  fit  out  a  privateer  with  his  friend 
Choiseul,  begging  a  few  guns  from  the  Ministry  of 
Marine  ;  but  he  ridiculed  the  general  enthusiasm.     The 


priest  auD  JSisbop  49 

next  fashion  was  Anglo-mania,  and  this  in  turn  raised 
constitutional  questions  of  interest  to  France.* 

It  is  clear  that,  from  an  early  stage  of  his  attention 
to  the  questions  raised  in  the  salons  and  circles  by  these 
episodes,  Talleyrand  was  prepared  for  popular  repre- 
sentation, and  was  disposed  to  favour  the  English  model. 
His  manifesto,  issued  on  the  eve  of  the  States-General, 
will  show  us  that  he  did  not  wait  for  the  logic  of  events 
to  make  him  embrace  democracy,  but  there  are  earlier 
indications.  During  the  Assembly  of  the  Notables  in 
1787  he  complained  to  Choiseul  that  "Paris  was  taking 
its  cue  from  the  Assembly  instead  of  an  instructed 
Paris  impressing  its  opinion  on  the  Assembly;"  and 
in  the  same  letter  he  observed  with  satisfaction  that 
*'  the  people  were  going  to  count  for  something,"  and 
that  "  the  granting  of  provincial  administration  [local 
self-government]  and  the  abolition  of  privileges  would 
prove  a  source  of  great  gain."  The  tragic  incompetency 
of  the  King  and  Queen  to  master  the  situation  of  their 
country  impressed  him.  Mere  "goodness  of  heart" 
was  fatal.  "Too  great  a  familiarity  in  sovereigns,"  he 
says  in  his  memoirs,  "  inspires  love  rather  than  respect, 
and  at  the  first  mishap  affection  goes."  It  was  the 
opinion  of  a  man  in  whom  (to  turn  his  own  words 
upon  himself)  "  philosophic  ideas  had  replaced  senti- 
ments," but  it  expresses  the  facts  here.  The  network 
of  noble  and  ecclesiastical    privileges    made    aristocracy 

*  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  he  met  Pitt  (with  Elliot  and  Wilber- 
force)  at  Rheims  in  17S3. 


50  UaUepranb 

impossible  in  an  impoverished  country.  The  choice 
was  between  a  strong  autocrat  (whom  the  gods  gave 
when  they  willed)  and  a  monarchy  limited  by  an 
educated  democracy.  With  Montesquieu  he  leaned  to 
the  latter  ;  the  satirical  description  of  France  as  "  an 
autocracy  tempered  with  lampoons"  is  attributed  to 
him.  With  Turgot  he  felt  that  the  people  must  be 
educated  up  to  self-government.  He  pleaded  strongly 
for  more  efficient  and  more  comprehensive  education. 
A  contemporary  gives  this  as  his  fad.  He  travelled  in 
privileged  provinces  like  Brittany,  and  noted  the  good 
result  of  local  administration.  He  would  hardly  admit 
moral  feeling  in  the  matter,  but  as  a  practical  politician 
he  was  for  gradual  and  constitutional,  but  thorough, 
reform. 

But  the  central  question  of  French  politics  to  every 
thoughtful  man  was  that  of  finance.  He  saw  nobles 
coquetting  with  democracy  who  were  not  prepared  to 
surrender  a  tithe  of  those  pecuniary  privileges  which 
were  strangling  the  actual  order.  He  saw  constitu- 
tionalists working  out  their  "  theory  of  irregular  verbs  " 
without  even  a  moderate  grasp  of  the  crucial  need.  He 
immediately  set  himself  to  master  the  science  of  finance 
and  the  fiscal  disorders  of  his  country.  His  archi- 
episcopal  friends  were  well  acquainted  with  the  one, 
and  such  friends  as  Panchaud  and  Dupont  de  Nemours 
would  help  him  with  both.  His  first  open  political 
expression  was  a  vehement  attack  on  Necker  after  his 
assumption   of  power  in  1776.     There  was  a  good  deal 


priest  ant)  Bisbop  51 

oi  parti  pris  in  his  first  attack.  He  ridiculed  the  person, 
the  features,  the  dress,  the  speech,  and  everything  about 
Necker,  as  well  as  his  financial  operations.  But  he  did 
oppose  on  conviction  the  tactics  of  the  Genevese  banker. 
He  thought  them  too  slow,  too  timid,  too  small- 
minded  to  rescue  France  from  the  precipice.  At  last 
he  made  an  opportunity  for  a  constructive  effort.  The 
funds  of  the  clergy  were  interested  in  the  bank  founded 
by  Turgot,  and  when  anxiety  arose  about  this  in  1784 
he  forced  his  position  as  Agent-General  (so  he  himself 
says),  and  drew  up  a  memoir  in  which  he  proposed  a 
reconstruction  of  the  bank.  The  memoir  attracted 
much  attention.  One  elderly  banker  listened  to  it 
almost  with  tears — at  the  pretty  way  in  which  he  put 
banking  common-places,  Talleyrand  says.  A  number 
of  experts  became  acquainted  with  him — Foulon,  Sainte- 
Foy,  Daude,  &c.  Presently  he  was  introduced  to 
Calonne,  the  new  Minister  of  Finance,  a  man  of  great 
ability  but  fitful  and  unscrupulous. 

Calonne's  failure  is  a  matter  of  general  history,  but 
during  the  three  years  of  his  ministry  Talleyrand  was 
usefully  associated  with  him.  The  stormy  Mirabeau 
also  appears  on  the  scene,  and  alternately  embraces  and 
quarrels  with  Talleyrand.  His  dispatches  from  Berlin, 
where  he  acted  as  a  kind  of  secret  agent,  were  nearly 
all  edited  by  Talleyrand  before  being  submitted  to  the 
King.  He  addresses  Talleyrand  from  Berlin  as  his 
"dear  master,"  but  has  a  violent  quarrel  with  him,  and 
calls  him  "a  wretched,  mean,  greedy,  intriguing  creature," 


52  Xralle^ran& 

when  he  returns  to  Paris,  on  account  of  some  offensive 
allusion    to    his    mistress.      Talleyrand    overlooked    his 
violence   and   vulgarity,  and  intervened   for   him   when 
he   published  one   of  his  spirited   attacks  on    Calonne. 
But    Talleyrand's   next    important    act    was    to    help   in 
preparing  a  scheme  for  the  redemption  of  the  debt  of 
the    clergy,       Calonne    had    thought    of   parrying    the 
growing  demand  for  the  convocation  of  the  States-General 
by  summoning  an  Assembly  of  Notables.     Talleyrand 
speaks  of  his  scheme  as  "  a  vast  plan,"  but  without  base, 
as    the    Notables  had  no   power    whatever   to  raise   the 
necessary     supplies.       However,     it    afforded    him    an 
opportunity   to   do  helpful  work.      The  Assembly  was 
to  meet   on    February   22nd  (1787),   and   on    the    14th 
Calonne  invited  Talleyrand,*  Dupont  de  Nemours,  and 
several   others  to  come  to  assist  him   in  preparing  the 
papers  to  be  submitted.    They  found  a  chaos  of  material, 
and  none  of  the  work  done.     They  divided  the  work, 
Talleyrand  undertaking  to  write  the  memoir  and  law  on 
the  new  grain-proposals.     He  also  helped  M.  de  Saint- 
Genis  to   draw  up  a  scheme   for  the  redemption  of  the 
debt  of  the  clergy.     This  was  to  be  part  of  Calonne's 
plan    of  a    general    land-tax    and    the    abolition    of  all 
pecuniary  privileges. 

Calonne's  expedient,  as  is  known,  only  brought 
about  his  own  downfall.  Talleyrand,  in  Paris,  met 
these  angry  notables  as  they  filled  the  salons  during  the 

•The  Cambridge   History,   in  saying  Talleyrand  was  "no  expert  in 
administration  or  finance,"  forgets  his  five  years'  Agcncj-. 


priest  an&  Bisbop  53 

Easter  recess,  and  heard  their  comments  on  the  im- 
pertinence of  the  subvention  territoriale,  by  which  they, 
the  nobles  and  clergy,  were  to  be  mulcted.  Lom6nie 
de  Brienne  fostered  the  opposition  amongst  the  clergy. 
Calonne  was  dismissed,  and,  after  an  interval  of 
nonentities,  the  Archbishop  of  Toulouse  secured  the 
long-coveted  honour,  chiefly  through  the  influence  of 
the  Queen.  Talleyrand  would  expect  few  favours  from 
de  Brienne  (of  whom  he  writes  in  the  memoirs  with 
disdain  and  dislike)  and  the  Queen's  party.  He  felt  that 
the  near  future  would  smooth  out  their  intrigue.  "The 
passion  of  the  hour  was  the  curtailment  of  the  royal 
authority,"  he  says.  The  King  was  pitied  and  the  Queen 
regarded  with  cold  suspicion.  The  enormous  deficit 
dismayed  thoughtful  men,  whilst  frivolous  nobles  called 
airily  for  a  declaration  of  national  bankruptcy  as  a  means 
of  salvation  they  had  themselves  tried  with  success.  The 
letters  which  Talleyrand  then  wrote  to  his  friend  at 
Constantinople  show  that  his  observations  in  the 
memoirs  faithfully  convey  the  ideas  he  had  at  the 
time.  Certain  technical  improvements  in  finance  would 
do  something,  but  it  was  clear  that  the  situation  of  the 
nobility  and  clergy  must  change.  The  life-blood  of 
France  was  being  sucked  for  the  support  of  a  parasitic 
growth.  Financial  privileges  must  be  curtailed  or 
abolished.  Who  would  cut  away  the  exhausting  growth 
of  commissions,  sinecures,  benefices,  and  gifts  ?  Clearly, 
neither  the  nobles  themselves  nor  the  King.  The 
country  must  be  prepared  for  popular  representation  on 


54  Uallcyran^ 

the  English  model — as  seen  through  the  merciful  mists 
of  the  Channel.  Talleyrand  proceeded  with  interest  to 
the  Provincial  Assembly  at  Chalons,  to  which  he  was 
deputed  as  abbe  of  St,  Denis  at  Rheims. 

The  Provincial  Assembly  was  a  compromise  with 
the  new  idea  of  popular  representation.  Six  members 
of  the  clerical  order  and  six  of  the  nobility  were  pitted 
against  twelve  of  the  Third  Estate  ;  equal  representation 
for  the  sansculottist  twenty  millions  against  the  privileged 
two  hundred  thousand.  And  the  president  was  to  be 
chosen  from  the  first  two  orders.  These  twenty-five 
nominated  twenty-four  other  members,  and  one-fourth  of 
the  Assembly  was  to  retire  every  year.  At  the  elections 
to  replace  them  everyone  who  paid  ten  livres  in  taxes 
was  entitled  to  vote.  Archbishop  Talleyrand  presided  at 
Chalons,  and  must  have  gratified  his  nephew  and  the  Third 
Estate  at  least  by  his  outspoken  denunciation  of  "greed" 
and  his  welcome  of  the  promised  reform  of  taxation. 
The  work  of  these  Assemblies  was  presently  transferred 
to  Versailles,  in  the  opening  of  the  States-General,  and 
it  need  not  be  dwelt  on.  Talleyrand  is  believed  to  be 
the  author  of  two  long  memoranda,  submitted  to  the 
Chalons  Assembly,  on  points  relating  to  taxation.  He 
was  confirmed  in  his  opinion  of  the  value  of  these 
schools  of  popular  training,  for  we  find  him  urging  the 
reopening  of  them  in  the  National  Assembly  in  1789. 

But  his  entry  into  political  life  was  now  properly 
regulated  by  his  nomination  to  a  bishopric.  He  had 
gone   to   Rheims   as  Vicar-General   to    his  uncle,   when 


J-'rom  an  oigravi/io^,  after  a  iiihiiature  by  M.  Gratis. 
LOUIS   XVI. 


[P-  54- 


Ipnest  ant)  Bisbop  55 

Mgr.  Marboeuf,  who  is  believed  to  have  so  long  opposed 
his  promotion,  was  transferred  from  the  See  of  Autun, 
and  it  was  offered  to  Talleyrand.  There  are  legends 
enough  to  explain  how  the  King  suddenly  acquired  his 
conviction  of  the  "  piety  "  of  the  Abbe  de  Perigord. 
The  most  probable  story  is  that  Talleyrand's  father,  who 
died  in  1788,  begged  Louis  to  confer  the  lingering 
bishopric  on  his  son.  Lieutenant-General  Talleyrand 
had  been  an  attendant  on  the  King  in  his  early  years,  and 
was  a  useful  officer  and  a  religious  man.  He  would 
regard  the  long  delay  in  finding  a  benefice  for  his  son  as 
a  disgrace  to  one  of  the  oldest  houses  in  France. 
At  all  events,  on  November  2nd,  the  King  signed  the 
nomination,  informing  an  amused  Paris  that  he  was 
"  properly  assured  as  to  the  good  life,  the  morals,  the 
piety,  the  competence,  and  all  the  other  virtuous  and 
commendable  qualities  of  the  Abbe  de  Perigord."  Paris 
remembered  that  a  former  Bishop  of  Autun  had  been  the 
original  of  Tartuffe.  "Ah,  if  Moliere  had  only  known 
his  successor,"  said  one  wag  at  the  time.  There  were 
many  religious  and  high-minded  prelates  amongst  the 
French  hierarchy,  and  they  commanded  a  priesthood  of 
considerable  self-sacrifice  and  devotion.  But  Talleyrand's 
opinions  and  habits  would  not  cause  a  grave  shock  to  a 
body  that  included  Cardinal  de  Rohan,  Archbishops 
Dillon,  De  Brienne  and  Cice,  and  a  considerable  body  of 
bishops  and  abbe's  of  the  type  of  de  Grimaldi,  Morellet, 
Arnaud,  Bertrand,  Delille,  de  Bourbon,  de  Dillon, 
Raynal,  Maury,  Sabatier,  &c. 


CHAPTER   IV 


AT     THE     STATES-GENERAL 


Talleyrand  was  consecrated  in  the  seminary-chapel  at 
Issy,  a  house  of  retreat  belonging  to  Saint-Sulpice,  on 
January  i6th,  1788.  He  had  observed,  in  that  age  of 
forms,  the  form  of  making  a  preliminary  retreat  at  Issy. 
His  delighted  friends  from  Paris  took  care  that  the 
"solitude,"  as  the  place  was  called,  should  not  depress 
him.  The  ceremony  was  performed  by  the  Bishop- 
Count  of  Noyon,  Mgr.  de  Grimaldi,  a  Voltairean  prelate. 
There  are  two  legendary  versions  of  Talleyrand's  bearing 
during  the  service.  Renan  was  told  by  an  aged  priest 
who  had  been  present  that  he  was  so  scandalised  at  the 
jauntiness  of  the  new  prelate  as  to  feel  compelled  to 
charge  himself  with  disrespectful  thoughts  at  his  next 
confession.  Another  version  affirms  that  Talleyrand 
fainted  from  some  emotion  or  other  during  the  morning. 
It  is  more  likely  that  Talleyrand  bore  himself  with 
perfect  propriety  and  indifference.  Liberal  nobles  and 
prelates  rarely  ridiculed  religion  even  in  private  conver- 
sation. "  I  have  always  moved  in  good  society,"  said 
one  at  a  later  date,  when  asked  if  he  had  ever  scoffed  at 
sacred  things.  Talleyrand  would  regard  his  share  in  the 
ceremony    as    a    regrettable    necessity    of    his    political 

56 


at  tbe  Statcs=(5cneral  57 

career.  It  deceived  nobody.  In  the  evening  he 
returned  to  Paris,  and  received  the  pallium  (a  privilege 
of  the  Autun  bishopric)  from  the  archbishop. 

With  the  sonorous  title  of  "Bishop  of  Autun,  First 
Suffragan  of  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons,  Administrator  of 
of  the  Temporalities  and  Spiritualities  of  the  said  Arch- 
bishopric, sede  vacante^  Perpetual  President  of  the  States 
of  Burgundy,  Count  of  Sanlien,  Baron  of  Issy-l'Ev^que, 
Lucenay,  Grosme,  Touillon,  &c.,"  he  was  now  somewhat 
better  equipped  for  political  work.  The  See  of  Autun 
was  one  of  the  most  ancient  in  France,  though  its  income 
was  relatively  very  small — 22,000  livres  a  year.  It  was, 
however,  regarded  as  having  next  claim  to  the  Arch- 
bishopric of  Lyons,  and  the  King  had  already  bestowed 
a  second  abbey  (of  Celles,  with,  9,500  livres  a  year)  on 
Talleyrand,  and  I  find  assigned  to  him  in  a  list  published 
at  Paris  in  1790,  the  rich  Abbey  of  Bee.  He  was  able 
to  resume  his  pleasant  ways  at  Paris,  with  an  income  of 
about  100,000  livres,  and  the  credit  of  a  rising  prelate.  It 
is  probably  to  this  period  that  the  story  of  his  adventure 
with  the  coach  builder  belongs.  Receiving  no  answer 
to  his  applications  for  payment  for  the  new  episcopal 
carriage,  the  maker  presented  himself,  hat  in  hand,  at 
Talleyrand's  door  when  Monseigneur  come  out.  After 
a  few  days  of  this  Talleyrand  blandly  asked  him  what  he 
wanted.  "  Oh,  you  will  be  paid,"  he  affably  replied  to 
the  man.  "  But  when,  Monseigneur?"  "Oh,  you  are 
very  inquisitive,"  said  the  prelate  with  an  appearance  of 
astonishment,  as  he  drove  away.      It  was  the  golden  age 


58  UalleKant) 

of  debtors.  The  King  once  ventured  to  tell  Archbishop 
Dillon  that  he  had  heard  he  was  greatly  in  debt.  "  I 
will  consult  my  steward  and  report  to  your  Majesty," 
said  the  prelate. 

On  the  other  hand  Talleyrand  found  that  he  must 
at  length  resort  to  actual  duplicity  to  strengthen  his 
position  at  Autun.  The  diocese  of  Mgr.  Marboeuf 
was  likely  to  hear  of  the  new  appointment  with  some 
misgiving.  But  already  there  were  rumours  of  States- 
General,  and  it  was  necessary  to  secure  real  influence  at 
Autun.  Within  a  fortnight  Talleyrand  issued — let  us 
hope  he  did  not  write — a  letter  to  his  flock,  which 
closed  the  mouths  of  the  pious  grumblers.  It  was  full 
of  Scripture  and  redolent  of  a  quiet,  unmistakeable 
fervour  and  simplicity.  "God  is  my  witness,"  it  says, 
in  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  "that  I  am  mindful  of  you 
without  interruption."  He  praises  the  zeal  of  his 
clergy,  alludes  to  those  unhappy  people  who  "only  seek 
in  offices  the  miserable  gratification  of  their  vanity,"  and 
urgently  asks  their  prayers  for  his  comfort.  It  was  read 
to  tearful  congregations  in  all  the  churches  of  his  diocese 
the  next  Sunday — Talleyrand  being  detained  in  Paris. 
A  few  weeks  later  his  useful  secretary,  the  Abbe  des 
Renandes,  was  offered  the  Vicar-Generalship  by  the 
canons.  He  would  not  fail  to  follow  up  the  effect  of 
the  letter  he  had  (probably)  written.  On  January  27th 
Talleyrand  took  possession  of  his  cathedral,  by  repre- 
sentative. Important  events  were  preparing  at  Paris 
and   Versailles.     A   great  arena   for   political   adventure 


Ht  tbe  States*(3encral  59 

was  being  opened.  About  the  middle  of  March  he  was 
free  to  follow  the  impulse  of  his  heart  and  visit  his 
beloved  sheep  ;  he  had  in  his  pocket  the  order  to 
convoke  the  preliminary  assembly  of  the  clergy  which 
was  to  send  him  to  the  States-General  at  Versailles. 

This  is  really  the  most  unpleasant  page  in 
Talleyrand's  life.  I  am  glad  the  writing  of  it  is  over. 
But  there  is — perhaps  unhappily — no  mystery  about 
it.  He  was  carrying  to  logical  conclusions  the  cynical 
estimate  of  the  ecclesiastical  order  which  his  experiences 
had  forced  on  him. 

On  Sunday,  March  15th,  he  took  solemn  posses- 
sion of  his  cathedral,  and  was  honoured  with  a  great 
f6te.  He  took  the  oath,  so  often  recalled  by  his 
enemies  afterwards,  to  defend  all  the  rights  and 
privileges  and  the  property  of  his  church.  He  remained 
a  month  at  Autun  and  captivated  everybody.  Were 
there  rumours  of  Voltairean  opinions  and  loose 
practices  .?  He  said  his  breviary  daily  in  the  garden 
— as  anyone  could  see — attended  to  every  function  of 
his  office,  presided  at  the  episcopal  council,  was  a  model 
bishop.  Meantime  his  young  abbe-assistants  from  Paris 
were  circulating  in  the  diocese,  their  conversation  always 
ending  with  politics.  There  was  open  table  at  the 
episcopal  palace  for  the  poor  cures,  and  the  reputation 
of  some  of  his  Lenten  dishes  flew  from  parish  to  parish. 
The  townspeople  were  badly  supplied  with  fish,  and  a 
word  to  friends  at  Versailles  got  the  post  to  stop  at 
Autun  and  drop  a  load  of  fresh  fish  daily  for  the  public 


6o  XTaUc^rant) 

market.  The  religious  congregations  were  amiably 
cultivated,  and  became  zealous  for  Monseigneur's 
candidature.  Soon  there  are  209  ecclesiastical  electors 
assembled  at  Autun,  many  of  them  rough,  hard-working 
cures,  who  distrust  this  descendant  of  all  the  Perigords. 
Monseigneur  is  tactful,  candid,  democratic  ;  quietly 
leads  their  meetings  as  honorary  president.  He  finds 
that  the  only  serious  rivals  are  Radical  cures,  with  cries 
of  "  Down  with  the  aristocrats  in  Church  and  State,"  and 
better  salaries  for  the  "  working  clergy."  Then  he 
issues  his  manifesto. 

Sainte-Beauve  was  forced  to  say  after  reading  it 
that  Talleyrand  "  showed  from  the  first  day  that  he  was 
one  of  the  most  enlightened  and  most  penetrating  minds 
of  the  time."  It  met  every  serious  grievance  on  which 
his  rivals  depended,  and  it  was  perfectly  sincere. 
Talleyrand  was  not  embittered  against  his  order,  like 
Mirabeau,  by  his  experiences,  nor  did  he  lean  to 
democratic  principles  on  the  lines  of  the  Due  d'Orleans. 
He  formed  a  sober  and  consistent  judgment  on  the  social 
and  political  situation,  and  it  does  no  less  credit  to  his 
humanity  than  his  sagacity.  He  would  claim  at  the 
States-General  that  that  body  should  not  be  arbitrarily 
interfered  with  or  prematurely  dispersed.  He  would 
press  for  the  making  of  a  constitution  as  its  first  achieve- 
ment ;  and,  for  all  Carlyle's  raillery,  this  was  the  first 
political  need  of  France.  In  this  new  constitution  the 
rights  of  the  people  must  be  recognised  as  well  as  those 
of  the  king.     The  new  political  structure  must  have  its 


at  tbe  Statc3=0eneral  6i 

first  elements  in  the  parish,  and  so  up  through  Pro- 
vincial Assemblies  to  a  permanent  States-General.  AH 
elections  shall  be  free.  The  sanctity  of  private  or 
corporate  property  shall  be  respected,  but  only  after 
claims  have  been  judicially  examined  and  unsound 
claims  rejected  ;  in  this  he  is  clearly  foreshadowing  his 
attitude  towards  Church  property.  The  administration 
of  justice  shall  be  simplified  and  purified  ;  the  criminal 
law  reformed,  lotteries  suppressed,  privileges  abolished. 
The  press  shall  be  free,  and  the  post  shall  not  be 
interfered  with.  Feudal  servitude  shall  be  abolished. 
There  shall  be  a  strict  inquiry  into  the  financial  situa- 
tion, a  reduction  of  expenditure,  and  the  abolition  of 
pecuniary  privileges. 

I  repeat  that  this  was  not  a  rhetorical  and  insincere 
document,  written  for  the  purpose  of  catching  votes. 
There  is,  in  the  first  place,  no  rhetoric  about  it.  It  is 
a  plain  and  sober  statement  of  remedies  for  the  national 
malady.  Then,  it  is  quite  in  accord  with  the  few 
previous  expressions  of  Talleyrand's  mind  ;  and  it  is 
a  faithful  presentment  of  the  measures  he  proposed  or 
supported  unequivocally  afterwards  at  the  National 
Assembly.  To  appreciate  it  fully,  we  must,  as 
Mr.  Belloc  strongly  pleads,  beware  of  reading  the  ideas 
of '91  and  '92  into  '89.  Camille  Desmoulins  said  there 
were  not  ten  Republicans  in  France  at  that  time.  There 
were  demands  for  reform  on  every  point  that  Talley- 
rand takes  up.  I  do  not  claim  originality  in  the  details, 
but    the    manifesto,    as    a    whole,    is    an    unanswerable 


62  traUe^ran& 

refutation  of  those  who  would  see  nothing  but  frivolity, 
selfishness  and  cynicism  in  its  author.  His  experiences 
had  made  him  almost  incapable  of  a  zeal  for  an  abstract 
ideal  of  justice,  but  his  sympathy  and  humanity,  as  well 
as  his  political  sagacity,  gave  a  serious  strain  to  his  work. 
He  was  elected  deputy  by  a  large  majority,  and  his 
address,  with  a  few  additions,  was  adopted  by  his  clergy 
as  their  cahier  or  book  of  instructions  to  their  repre- 
sentative. 

But  from  the  moment  of  his  election  he  ceased 
to  be  an  ecclesiastic,  as  far  as  possible.  He  left  for  Paris 
on  Easter  Sunday,  not  waiting  to  officiate  at  the  services 
or  to  follow  the  retreat  of  the  clergy  which  was 
commencing.  His  parishioners  never  saw  him  again  ; 
except  that,  thirteen  years  afterwards,  his  carriage  broke 
down  at  Autun,  as  he  passed  through  on  the  way  to 
Lyons,  and  he  is  said  to  have  been  rather  roughly 
noticed. 

The  next  fortnight  was  spent  in  feverish  debate 
at  Paris  on  the  forthcoming  meeting.  At  the  Thirty 
Club,  where  cultured  Radicals  foregathered,  and  where 
Talleyrand  and  Mirabeau  had  met  the  boldest  politicians 
of  their  class  during  the  last  year  or  two,  the  interest 
was  deep.  Lafayette,  Roederer,  the  Dukes  de  Luynes 
and  Larochefoucauld,  Sabatier,  and  other  Liberals 
belonged  to  it,  as  well  as  some  of  Talleyrand's  earlier 
friends.  A  new  salon  that  he  frequented,  and  that 
rang  with  political  controversy,  was  that  of  Mme.  de 
Stad.       Necker's    daughter    had    married    the    Swedish 


at  tbe  States^CBeueral  63 

Minister  in  1786,  and  she  succeeded  in  drawing 
Talleyrand  into  her  social  circle.  In  such  a  circle 
the  dangers  and  possibilities  of  the  coming  meeting 
were  properly  appreciated.  These  men,  resolutely  bent 
on  anticipating  instead  of  waiting  for  events,  like  the 
bulk  of  the  nobles  and  the  King's  party,  saw  clearly 
enough  that  the  great  question  was  :  Will  the  voting 
be  by  orders  separately  or  in  common  ?  The  country 
had  been  agitated  over  the  question  what  proportion  of 
delegates  should  be  allowed  to  the  Third  Estate.  The 
King  had  granted  them  a  representation  equal  to  that  of 
the  first  two  orders  together,  or  600  members.  But 
the  effect  of  this  was  inappreciable  until  the  procedure 
of  voting  had  been  settled  ;  and  this  had  been  left 
undecided.  No  one,  indeed,  approached  the  date  with 
the  feeling  of  solemnity  with  which  we  now  look 
back  on  it  through  the  smoke  of  the  revolutionary 
fires.  But  the  situation  was  serious  for  men  who,  like 
Talleyrand,  were  bent  on  making  the  national  parliament 
a  reality.  If  the  orders  were  to  vote  separately,  the 
machine  would  produce  nothing  ;  if  together,  the  Third 
Estate  would  be  supported  by  the  democratic  cures  and 
would  rule  the  Assembly. 

And  were  the  people  prepared  for  this  power  ? 
Talleyrand  must  have  stopped  many  a  time  in  the  gardens 
of  the  Palais  Royal,  now  the  agora  of  Paris,  and  listened 
to  the  barrel-oratory  before  the  cafes.  Men  who  had 
been  seen  washing  their  only  shirt  in  the  Seine  a 
few   months  ago    are    leading    crowds.     Pamphlets    are 


64  Ualle^rant) 

poured  out  by  the  thousand.  The  Due  d'Orleans  is 
fanning  the  flames  that  break  out  here  and  there. 
Mirabeau  is  thundering.  Sieyes  is  giving  substance  to 
the  quips  of  Chamfort.  Grim,  gaunt,  ragged  crowds 
flood  the  street  at  the  slightest  provocation,  sack 
merchants'  houses,  and  attack  the  troops.  Talleyrand 
goes  to  Versailles  in  thoughtful  mood.  Popular  repre- 
sentation on  the  English  plan,  with  a  second  house,  is 
the  only  hope. 

Arnault  describes  in  his  Souvenirs  how  he  saw 
Talleyrand  at  Versailles  at  that  time.  He  would  have 
us  believe  that  he  did  not  know  the  bishop,  but  was 
struck  by  this  "  angel's  face  through  which  broke  the 
spirit  of  a  devil."  He  would  have  thought  it  the  face 
of  a  fast-living  officer,  but  for  the  cassock  and  pectoral 
cross.  The  portrait  given  in  the  Galerie  des  Etats- 
Gineraux^  of  Choderlos  de  Laclos,  is  of  greater  value, 
because  it  was  drawn  at  the  time.  It  gives  the  estimate 
in  which  he  was  held  by  his  shrewder  contemporaries. 
Intelligence,  it  is  said,  is  his  distinctive  gift.  Moderation, 
tact,  and  restraint  are  well  cultivated.  He  is  mild  to  a 
possible  fault.  He  "  yields  to  circumstances,  to  reason, 
and  thinks  he  can  make  concessions  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  without  deserting  the  principles  which  he  has 
made  the  ground  of  his  morality  and  conduct."  His 
future  depends  on  himself.  If  he  is  influenced  by  esprit 
de  corps  he  will  do  nothing  ;  if  he  acts  independently 
he  may  do  anything.  We  are  justified  in  thinking  that 
Talleyrand  had  made  up  his  mind  to  act  independently. 


at  tbe  5tates*0cneral  65 

though  he  had  no  dream  of  leading.  He  was  for  a  limited 
monarchy  and  a  second  chamber  representing  culture 
and  wealth.*  Beyond  this  he  was  for  Talleyrand,  for 
France,  and  for  humanity. 

On  the  very  eve  of  the  opening  of  the  States- 
General  he  received  another  proof  of  the  foolishness  of 
the  order  to  which  he  now  belonged.  A  few  days  before 
the  4th  the  leaders  of  the  clergy  met  at  the  Cardinal 
de  la  Rochefoucauld's  house  at  Versailles  to  discuss  the 
situation.  All  were  agreed,  to  Talleyrand's  disgust,  that 
this  was  a  favourable  opportunity  for  asking  the  nation 
to  extinguish  their  debt.  One  of  their  number  was 
deputed  to  introduce  the  proposal,  and  for  a  long  time 
they  clung  to  it.  Clearly,  one  must  not  sacrifice  much 
for  clerical  esprit-de-corps. 

Then  the  4th  of  May  arrives.  Chaos  settles  into 
order  at  Versailles.  Talleyrand  notes  the  petty  devices 
by  which  royalism  mitigates  its  concession  of  popular 
representation.  On  the  previous  day  the  King  had 
received  the  deputies :  first  the  Clergy  and  Nobles,  then, 
with  less  ceremony,  the  Commons.  He  notes,  too,  how 
the  leaders  of  the  Commons  are  beginning  to  emphasize 
the  distinction.  "  Three  orders  .?  No:  three  nations," 
says  Sieyes,  constitution-maker  for  the  next  ten  years. 
Now  they  march  to  the  Salle  des  menus,  all  Paris  lining 
the  route  or  hanging  out  of  the  windows.  Talleyrand 
sees  the   550  popular  deputies  greeted  with  a  roar  of 

*  In   the  Memoirs  he  gives  as  the  onlj-  possible  alternative  a  strict 
limitation  of  the  franchise  and  of  the  conditions  of  candidates. 


66  UaUe^ran& 

applause  ;  mostly  lawyers,  with  set  faces  under  their 
"  slouch-hats."  He  sees  the  plumed  and  embroidered 
nobles,  "the  illustrious  obscure,"  tread  daintily  between 
silent  hedges  of  soldiers  and  people.  He  marks  the 
same  silence  as  he  and  his  forty  colleagues  in  violet 
cassock  and  lace  surplice  step  out,  followed,  with  a 
convenient  band  between,  by  260  cures.  He  hears  the 
shouts  of  Vive  le  Rot  in  the  rear  :  the  Queen  is  ignored. 
Even  in  the  intoxication  of  the  spectacle  and  its 
symbolism  the  people  discriminate  conspicuously.  The 
next  day  he  is  interested  to  hear  the  King  express 
his  pleasure  that  the  privileged  "are  going  to  renounce 
their  privileges  "  and  Necker  rub  in  the  lesson.  And 
he  notices  that  first  innovation  in  the  history  of  France, 
when  commoners  put  their  hats  on  before  the  King 
has  got  out  of  the  room.  It  is  the  first  shot.  On  the 
third  day  the  Third  Estate  finds  itself  alone  in  the  great 
hall.  The  clergy  and  the  nobility  are  meeting  separately, 
as  of  old,  to  verify  their  papers.  The  commoners  see 
that  this  means  separate  votes  and  impotence,  and  the 
historic  battle  begins. 

History  has  described  the  fortunes  of  the  Commons. 
I  must  follow  Talleyrand  into  the  obscurer  meeting- 
place  of  the  First  Estate.  The  Nobles,  pampered  and 
encouraged  by  the  unfortunate  Queen,  were  violently 
opposed  to  union  with  the  Commons.  The  Clergy 
knew  they  were  fatally  divided,  being  themselves 
composed  of  two  orders,  and  their  leaders  were  for  a 
policy    of    drifting    or    compromise.       Cardinal     de    la 


at  tbe  Statcs^Gencral  67 

Rochefoucauld  was  president,  and  he  contrived  to 
bring  the  Clergy  together  for  three  hours  a  day  for  six 
weeks  without  doing  anything.  Some  of  the  cures 
spoke  at  once  in  favour  of  joining  the  Commons,  but 
they  were  silenced  by  an  agreement  to  verify  their  papers 
"provisionally"  where  they  were:  the  delegates  from 
Paris,  and  several  others,  had  not  yet  arrived.  The 
Commons  break  in  on  their  provisional  action  the  next 
day  by  inviting  them  to  come  into  the  large  hall — into 
which  their  own  hall  opens — and  the  struggle  begins. 
The  prelates  name  commissioners  to  discuss  the  matter 
with  their  colleagues  of  the  other  orders.  The  Com- 
mons, after  a  grumble,  assent  :  the  Nobles  assent,  but 
practically  say  their  decision  is  taken.  The  cardinal 
suspends  sittings,  but  there  is  mutiny  amongst  the  cures, 
who  are  going  to  appoint  a  new  president,  and  he  hastily 
retracts.  A  week  is  taken  up  in  "  provisional  "  verifi- 
cation, voting  commissioners,  being  polite  to  each  other 
(except  when  a  deputation  comes  from  Dauphine  to  dis- 
own the  Archbishop  of  Vienne  as  improperly  elected), 
and  hair-splitting.  On  the  13th  they  send  deputies 
to  inform  the  Commons  they  have  appointed  com- 
missioners :  the  deputies  announce  on  their  return  that 
they  were  "  not  so  well  received  as  they  had  expected." 
Fourteen  days  more  are  spent  in  discussing  their  cahiers 
(instructions),  disputes  about  titles  and  costumes, 
abandonment  of  privileges  (which  is  carried  in  general 
form,  but  disputed  in  detail),  homage  to  the  King,  and 
indignation   that   pamphlets  are   in  circulation   accusing 


68  UaUev^cant) 

them  of  slowness.  On  the  27th  they  are  "  examining 
their  cahiers'"  when  '*  a  numerous  deputation  "  of  grim, 
business-like  lawyers  from  the  Third  break  in,  and 
implore  them  "in  the  name  of  the  God  of  Peace  and  the 
interest  of  the  nation"  to  stop  quibbling  and  join  the 
Commons.  The  deputies  are  bowed  out,  and  a  dis- 
cussion follows,  which  is  interrupted  by  M.  Target  and 
his  companions  once  more  with  the  same  message. 
They  are  assured  that  the  Clergy  are  going  to  "  occupy 
themselves  seriously  "  with  the  matter. 

Talleyrand  knew  (as  all  his  colleagues  did)  that 
these  men  of  business  had  been  sitting  in  the  next  room 
day  after  day  in  the  most  painful  idleness.  They  would 
not  open  a  letter  or  do  a  single  act  that  could  be  con- 
strued as  an  admission  that  they  were  a  separate  body. 
They  were  "a  meeting  of  citizens,"  waiting  to  be  joined 
by  other  citizens  to  do  the  business  of  the  State.  It 
was  now  clear  that  their  resolution  was  unshakeable,  and 
Talleyrand  and  the  moderates  cursed  Necker  very  freely. 
The  situation  was  becoming  serious.  Citizens  from 
Paris  (who  had  now  sent  their  deputies)  keep  running 
down  to  see  how  business  is  proceeding.  The  cures 
are  getting  restless.  One  of  them  is  interrupted  by  a 
Vicar-General,  and  he  says  :  "  Hold  your  tongue, 
monsieur."  Prelates  leap  to  their  feet  in  horror.  Then 
some  of  the  cures  induce  a  secretary  to  begin  at  the 
bottom  of  his  list  when  he  is  calling  the  names.  One  of 
the  bishops  rushes  at  him  and  snatches  the  list  from  his 
hand.     That  night  (the  27th)  60  or  70  cures  meet  and 


at  tbe  State6=(BeneraI  69 

decide  to  press  matters.  The  next  day  there  is  a  warm 
debate,  when  the  cardinal  produces  a  letter  from  the 
King,  who  is  painfully  surprised  to  hear  there  is  some 
hitch  or  other  ;  the  commissioners  will  meet  to-morrow 
in  presence  of  his  keeper  of  the  seals.  Another 
fortnight  goes  in  meetings  of  commissioners,  &c.  The 
Nobles  have  sent  to  say  they  are  determined  to  remain  a 
separate  order,  and  the  shifty  cardinal  has  betrayed 
himself:  "Your  fathers  built  and  defended  our  churches: 
you  will  be  to-day  the  saviours  of  your  country."  They 
have  tried,  too,  to  tempt  the  Commons  into  action  by 
inviting  them  to  discuss  the  pitiful  condition  of  the 
country  ;  just  what  we  are  waiting  for  you  to  come  and 
discuss,  reply  the  Commons.  Now  (the  loth)  Sieyes, 
the  cool,  hard-headed  ex-theologian,  is  urging  the 
Commons  to  "cut  the  cable."  On  the  I2th  a  deputation 
of  ten  offers  a  dignified  but  unmistakeable  invitation  to 
the  clergy;  they  get  a  promise  of  "serious  consideration." 
The  next  morning  it  appears  that  three  cures  have 
joined  the  Third  ;  three  more  go  during  the  discussion  : 
five  the  next  day.  On  the  17th  they  hear  that  the 
Commons  have  constituted  themselves  the  National 
Assembly.  On  the  19th  they  put  the  question  of  union 
to  a  formal  vote.  The  cardinal  says  that  separation  is 
maintained  by  135  votes  against  127.  The  archbishops 
of  Vienne  and  Bordeaux,  the  leaders  of  the  unionists, 
cry  that  the  list  has  been  manipulated,  and  keep  their 
party  in  the  hall;  they  turn  out  to  number  149  (against 
115).     Talleyrand  marches  out  with  the  separatists,  who 


70  UaUe^raii^ 

are  hooted  by  the  great  crowd  at  the  door  ;  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Vienne  and  his  colleagues  are  carried  in 
triumph.  Cardinal  de  la  Rochefoucauld  and  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Paris  fly  to  the  King. 

The  rest  of  this  story  of  the  disruption  of  the 
First  Order  and  the  consequent  recognition  of  the 
National  Assembly  (the  Revolution)  is  well  known. 
Talleyrand  was  opposed  to  union.  He  looked  with 
anxiety  to  the  formation,  in  a  totally  uneducated  country 
with  a  wide  franchise,  of  a  single  elective  chamber. 
We  know  now  how  just  his  concern  was.  He  and 
the  moderate  reformers  pressed  the  King  (through 
M.  d'Artois)  to  dissolve  the  States-General  at  whatever 
cost,  and  make  a  fresh  appeal  on  a  stricter  franchise. 
He  was  told  that  it  was  too  late  (and  in  this  the  King 
was  probably  right),  and  had  then  to  witness  the 
miserable  devices  by  which  the  royal  party  insinuated 
a  power  they  dare  not  assert.  The  halls  were  closed  to 
prepare  for  a  royal  sitting,  and  the  famous  oath  in  the 
tennis-court  was  the  result.  That  night  (June  20-2  ist) 
or  the  following  Talleyrand  probably  made  his  last 
effort  to  stem  the  tide  of  the  Revolution.  He  has  told 
us  in  the  memoirs  how  he  and  one  or  two  other 
Liberal  nobles  went  to  Marly  by  night  to  see  and  advise 
the   King.*     The    King  would   not  see   them,   and    his 

*  The  date  is  not  certain,  however.  Talleyrand  speaks  of  going  to 
Marly,  and  of  seeing  M.  d'Artois  just  before  he  left  France.  But  the 
Court  had  left  Marly  a  week  before  the  emigration  began.  We  must 
suppose  there  were  several  visits,  and  must  fix  this  one,  in  which  he 
urged  strong  measures,  by  the  political   circumstances.     Such   measures 


at  tbe  Statcs=(5cncral  71 

brother  told  them  that  their  proposals — namely,  that 
the  King  should  disperse  the  present  Assembly  and 
proclaim  a  fresh  election — could  not  be  considered. 
Talleyrand  then  said  that  the  Prince  could  not  hold 
them  responsible  if  in  the  course  of  events  they  felt 
compelled  to  throw  in  their  lot  with  the  popular  party, 
and  M.  d'Artois  replied  that  he  could  not  blame  them. 
Talleyrand  thereupon  returned  to  Versailles  with  a  deep 
resentment  of  the  folly  of  the  King's  advisers  and  a 
feeling  of  independence.  "  Under  pain  of  folly,"  he 
writes,  "  it  was  time  to  think  of  oneself."  He,  of 
course,  held  to  his  ideal  of  a  limited  monarchy, 
but  it  was  clear  that  this  might  have  to  be  attained  in 
spite  of  the  Court  party.  He  proposed  to  watch  the 
development  closely  and  act  as  circumstances  would  direct. 
On  the  Monday  the  tennis-court  was  closed — 
reserved  for  the  Princes  to  play — and  the  deputies, 
after  wandering  about  Versailles  in  sight  of  an  angry 
crowd,  met  in  the  church  of  St.  Louis.  There  151 
clerical  deputies,  with  two  archbishops  at  their  head, 
join  them  amidst  the  wildest  excitement.  The  royal 
sitting  takes  place  on  the  Tuesday.  The  King  promises 
considerable  reforms  and  then  affects  authority,  and 
orders  them  to  separate  into  their  respective  rooms. 
Talleyrand  saw,  on  the  one  hand,  the  delighted  nobles 

would  certainly  not  be  possible  in  the  middle  of  July,  where  M.  de  Bacourt 
would  put  the  interview  ;  they  would  have  a  plausible  value  up  to 
June  24th.  Talleyrand  probably  did  see  d'Artois  again  later.  The  fact  of 
the  interview  and  the  substance  of  the  conversation  were  afterwards 
admitted  by  the  Prince. 


72  Uallei^rant) 

crowding  about  the  Queen,  in  the  belief  that  all  danger 
was  over  ;  and,  on  the  other,  the  sullen  Commons  send 
Breze  to  tell  the  King  they  will  only  yield  to  bayonets, 
and  King  Louis  abdicate,  as  he  says,  "Let  them  stay"  ; 
and  6,000  people  invade  the  chateau  with  cries  for 
Necker.  The  Archbishop  of  Paris  has  to  fly  for  his 
life.  Soldiers  refuse  to  fire  on  the  crowd.  On  the  next 
day  (24th)  the  clergy  find  the  door  walled  up  that 
leads  to  the  Assembly,  and  the  minority  continues  its 
separate  sitting,  but  its  members  melt  away.  On  the 
26th  Talleyrand  and  the  Bishop  of  Orange  quietly  take 
seats  in  the  National  Assembly  ;  they  are  presently 
followed  by  the  Archbishop  of  Paris.  On  the  27th  the 
King  enjoins  the  rest  of  the  Clergy  and  the  Nobles  to 
unite  with  the  National  Assembly.  Talleyrand  sees  the 
crowds  frantically  cheer  the  King  and  Queen,  but  he 
knows  it  is  the  royal  submission,  not  the  royal  authority, 
they  are  greeting. 

It  is  from  this  date,  and  during  the  next  three 
years,  that  Talleyrand  is  especially  found  enigmatic,  and 
I  must  trace  his  course  with  care,  avoiding  the  temp- 
tation to  linger  over  the  stirring  scenes  of  the  time. 
Talleyrand's  opposition  to  the  union  of  the  three  orders 
is  clear  enough ;  he  wanted  a  second  chamber  as  a  check 
on  undisciplined  passion.  When  it  became  imperative 
he  went  into  the  Assembly  to  do  what  good  he  should 
find  possible.  He  was  becoming  seriously  concerned  for 
the  nation.  He  knew  well  the  leaders  of  the  democratic 
party.     Desmoulins  was  living  with  his  friend  Mirabeau 


camili.p:  Dr-^Mori.iNS. 


[p.  72. 


at  tbe  States*(Bencral  73 

at  Versailles,  and  Sieyes  was  often  there.    Sieyes  ridiculed 
the  English  model.     Desmoulins  was  a  Republican. 

On  July  7th  Talleyrand  spoke  for  the  first  time 
in  the  Assembly,  and  made  a  great  impression.  The 
question  had  been  raised  whether  the  deputies  should 
still  consider  themselves  bound  by  the  instructions  given 
them  by  the  electors.  Talleyrand,  Sieyes  and  Mirabeau 
urged  the  abandonment  of  these  cahiers^  and  carried  it 
by  a  huge  majority.  Lytton  defends  Talleyrand's  action, 
and  it  is  intelligible  enough.  The  chief  point  of  his 
subtle  and  rather  formal  speech  is  that  the  new 
Assembly  is  deliberative, and  that  therefore  "imperative " 
instructions  would  only  hamper  its  usefulness.  Mean- 
time the  situation  outside  grows  serious.  Necker  is 
dismissed,  Paris  is  breaking  prisons,  troops  are  gathering 
thick  round  the  capital  and  Versailles.  Talleyrand  marks 
the  ascendancy  of  the  violent  Mirabeau.  On  the  13th 
the  Assembly,  receiving  an  unsatisfactory  reply  from  the 
King,  formally  demands  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops, 
censures  the  King's  advisers,  decrees  the  consolidation 
of  the  national  debt,  and  declares  its  sitting  permanent. 
After  a  short  adjournment  during  the  night  they  meet 
with  grave  looks  at  five  on  the  Tuesday  morning,  and 
settle  down  to  the  work  of  forming  a  committee  to 
prepare  the  constitution.*     Deputies  and  spectators  run 

*  Talleyrand  was  appointed  to  the  Committee  with  the  Archbishop 
of  Bordeaux,  Lally-Tollendal,  Clerment-Tonnerrc,  Mounicr,  Sieyes, 
Chapelier,  and  Bergasse.  Three  of  these  were  Anglophile  like  himself, 
and  the  work  seemed  not  only  vitally  necessary  but  promising, 
Carlyle  sadly  failed  to  appreciate  it. 


74  UaUe\?ranb 

in  and  out  all  the  morning — the  Queen  and  nobles  are 
mixing  with  the  soldiers  in  the  orangery,  the  Parisians 
are  arming,  the  air  is  thick  with  plots  and  rebellion.  The 
Prince  de  Lambesc  gallops  past  for  Paris.  Deputies 
fancy  they  hear  the  sound  of  cannon.  At  last  the  heroic 
nerve  of  the  Assembly  fails,  and  Mirabeau  proposes  that 
they  send  a  deputation  to  the  King.  Then  the  Vicomte 
de  Noailles  and  others  from  Paris  are  announced,  and 
walk  up  the  great  hall  amidst  a  strained  silence.  The 
streets  of  Paris  are  red  with  blood  ;  the  people  are 
storming  the  Bastille,  the  symbol  of  the  old  order. 
About  midnight  they  hear  that  the  Bastille  has  fallen. 
They  separate  about  two,  but  reassemble  early  in  the 
morning,  and  send  deputation  after  deputation  to  the 
distracted  monarch,  who  has  been  awakened  from  his 
sleep  to  be  told  there  is  "a  revolution."  As  the  fifth 
delegation  is  going,  with  a  ferocious  message  from 
Mirabeau,  King  Louis  is  announced,  and  is  received 
with  chilling  silence.  But  he  makes  a  fine  speech,  and 
promises  everything  —  to  disband  the  troops,  recall 
Necker,  and  so  on. 

A  feeling  akin  to  that  of  intoxication  is  growing 
epidemic,  but  Talleyrand  coolly  watches  the  strange 
scenes  with  the  keen,  blue-grey  eyes  under  the  bushy 
eye-brows.  He  sees  these  prim  lawyers  crowding  like 
schoolboys  about  the  King  as  he  returns  to  the  chateau, 
covered  with  sweat  and  dust,  and  the  royal  family  again 
on  the  balcony  and  the  great  crowds  wild  with  rejoicing. 
Then  he  returns  to  the  hall,  and  is  deputed  to  set  out  at 


at  tbe  States^Oeneral  75 

once  with  ninety-nine  other  members  to  inform  Paris 
and  allay  its  panic.  Through  long  lines  of  drawn  and 
excited  faces — Paris  has  not  been  to  bed  for  three  days 
and  nights — they  drive  up  the  Rue  Saint  Honore  to  the 
sound  of  trumpets.  At  the  Hotel  de  Ville  they  tell 
their  news,  and  heaven  and  earth  seem  to  melt  in 
confusion.  Lally-Tollendal  is  crowned  with  a  wreath, 
but  he  passes  it  on  to  the  archbishop,  and  the  sedate 
prelate  is  dragged  to  the  window  where  thousands  of 
Bastille  stormers  cheer  him.  Then  they  march  to  Notre 
Dame  to  sing  a  Te  Deum.  Talleyrand  sees  the  arch- 
bishop arm-in-arm  with  the  black,  ragged  Abbe  Lefevre, 
who  has  been  chief  powder-distributor  ;  and  the  placid, 
learned  Bailly  arm-in-arm  with  Hullin,  the  chief  Bastille 
stormer,  with  four  fusiliers  as  guard  of  honour.  On 
they  go  through  lanes  of  patriots — many  of  them  monks 
and  priests — with  bloody  pikes  and  axes  and  scythes, 
and  faces  unwashed  for  a  week,  and  scraps  of  valuable 
old  armour  from  the  museums  over  tattered  costumes. 
What  a  Paris  compared  with  that  he  had  left  only  three 
months  before. 

The  following  morning  the  deputies  gave  an 
account  to  the  Assembly,  and  crowned  the  confusion  by 
proposing  to  erect  a  statue  of  the  King  on  the  site  of  the 
Bastille.  That  night  M.  d'Artois  and  the  Court  nobles 
fled  from  France.  It  is  probable  enough  that  Talleyrand 
saw  him,  though  the  account  in  the  memoirs  is  very 
inaccurate  ;  he  states  explicitly  that  he  was  invited  to  fly 
with  the  Prince,  but  refused.      In  the  morning  the  King 


76  XTalle^ran^ 

went  to  Paris — driving  between  200,000  silent  men 
with  pikes,  sabres,  scythes,  axes,  and  lances — and 
renewed  his  promises.  But  as  the  news  of  the  fall  of 
the  Bastille  spread  through  the  provinces  it  lit  up  the 
same  conflagration  over  the  country.  About  sixty 
monasteries  and  nunneries  were  burned  in  Talleyrand's 
diocese.  His  uncle's  chateau  was  burned  down  during 
the  night  of  July  29th.  The  Assembly  appointed  a 
committee  to  enquire  into  the  disorders  whilst  it 
discussed  the  advisability  of  prefixing  a  declaration  of  the 
Rights  of  Man  to  the  new  Constitution.  Fifty  deputies 
demanded  speech  on  the  subject,  and  the  flow  of  oratory 
began  on  August  ist.  Meantime  addresses  and  depu- 
tations poured  in  on  the  Assembly  from  all  parts  : 
thirty-one  on  July  24th,  thirty-eight  on  the  28th,  and 
so  on. 

By  August  4th  the  deputies  seem  to  have  been 
wrought  to  a  curious  pitch  of  nervousness  by  the  oratory 
and  the  addresses.  In  the  morning  a  letter  from  the 
King  is  read,  from  which  they  learn  that  their  Arch- 
bishop of  Bordeaux  has  been  made  Keeper  of  the  Seals, 
and  the  Archbishop  of  Vienne  has  been  given  the 
feuille  des  benefices.  There  is  great  rejoicing  and  acclama- 
tion of  the  King.  In  the  afternoon  the  Vicomte  de 
Noailles  mounts  the  tribune  and  proposes  that,  in  "this 
age  of  light,  when  sound  philosophy  has  regained  its 
sway,"  the  nobles  shall  lay  at  the  feet  of  the  nation 
every  one  of  their  privileges.  The  Due  d'Aiguillon 
supports   the   proposal.     A  marquis,  another  viscount, 


at  tbe  Statcs*(Beneral  77 

and  a  bishop  (a  colleague  quarrelling  for  priority)  follow 
with  the  same  story.  Michelet  is  unfair  when  he  says 
the  Clergy  were  the  last  and  the  least  willing  to  join. 
Soon  the  steps  of  the  tribune  are  crowded  with  men 
eager  to  renounce  age-old  privileges,  and  a  scene  unique 
in  the  history  of  the  world  is  witnessed.  Nobles 
abdicate  their  feudal  rights,  bishops  abandon  their 
benefices,  the  Clergy  rise  in  a  body  to  renounce  tithe, 
starving  cures  forswear  their  miserable  incomes  (without 
a  smile),  barons  part  with  their  baronies,  towns  and 
provinces  give  up  their  proudest  privileges.  Time 
after  time  business — if  this  ought  to  be  called  business 
— is  suspended  till  emotions  can  subside  a  little.  At 
two  in  the  morning  they  conclude  with  the  ordering 
of  a  special  medal  and  a  Te  Deum. 

We  do  not  distinguish  Talleyrand  in  the  crowd 
of  enthusiasts,  but  he  soon  appears  when  it  comes  to  the 
sober  and  detailed  execution  of  the  promise.  On  the 
6th  he  proposed  to  distinguish  between  feudal  rights 
that  could  be  forthwith  extinguished  and  rights  that 
should  be  compensated.  On  the  iith  he  becomes  more 
prominent.  It  was  understood  on  the  4th  that  tithe 
would  be  redeemed,  but,  some  of  the  Clergy  haggling  a 
little,  the  philosophic  Marquis  Lacoste  proposed  on  the 
loth  that  they  abolish  it  outright,  and  Chasset  made  a 
formal  motion  to  that  effect.  The  Clergy  resisted 
at  first,  and  Sieyes  supported  them  ;  but  on  the  i  ith  the 
Archbishop  of  Paris  declared  with  great  solemnity  that 
the    Clergy    surrendered    its    tithe    to    the    nation,  and 


78  UaUel5ran^ 

trusted  to  its  honour  for  a  proper  provision  for  worship 
and  religion.  There  was  a  loud  outburst  of  applause, 
and  the  Cardinal  de  la  Rochefoucauld  and  several 
bishops  rose  to  support  their  leader.  Then  the  deep, 
slow,  suave  voice  of  Talleyrand  broke  through  the 
uproar,  and,  to  the  astonishment  of  all,  he  drily- 
demanded  that  it  be  entered  in  the  minutes  that 
Chasset's  motion  of  the  previous  day  had  been  passed 
unanimously.  This  meant  nearly  all  the  difference 
between  an  enforced  and  a  voluntary  surrender.  It  was 
the  beginning  of  Talleyrand's  secession  from  the  clerical 
body.  It  is  usually  thought  that  he  wanted  to  conciliate 
the  Radicals  by  having  the  result  cast  in  the  form  of  a 
victory  for  them.  It  is  probable  enough  that  this  was  in 
his  mind,  but  it  is  probable  too  that  he  distrusted 
sentimental  promises  and  thought  it  advisable  to  have  a 
formal  motion  passed. 

The  remainder  of  August  was  taken  up  with  the 
discussion  of  the  form  in  which  the  Rights  of  Man 
should  be  declared.  Talleyrand  intervened  once  or 
twice  with  effect.  It  was  he,  supported  by  Mirabeau, 
who  induced  the  Assembly  to  cut  out  the  two  Articles 
relating  to  religion  and  morals.  He  has  been  censured 
for  this,  but  his  speech  is  a  quite  honest  plea  for  a 
purely  secular  and  political  declaration,  without  any 
antagonism  to  religion.  Long  afterwards  we  shall  find 
him  pleading  eloquently  for  moral  instruction  and  for 
lessons  in  religion  in  the  schools.  On  the  i8th  he  was 
appointed  Secretary,  and  on  the  27th  spoke  with  great 


at  tbc  States*(3encral  79 

effect  in  support  of  a  proposed  loan.  In  the  long  and 
stormy  debates  of  September  on  the  subject  of  the  royal 
Veto,  in  the  course  of  which  the  distinction  of  Right 
and  Left  became  fully  pronounced,  Talleyrand  took  no 
part.  The  life  of  the  people's  Assembly  must  have 
jarred  on  his  taste.  A  hundred  deputies  at  once  would 
spring  to  their  feet  and  out-bawl  each  other,  only  the 
roar  of  a  Mirabeau  or  a  Maury  being  heard  through 
the  din.  Gallery  also  joined  in — encouraging,  threaten- 
ing, whistling  and  singing.  How  Talleyrand  must  have 
longed  for  his  Upper  House  —  and  a  seat  in  it  ! 
Through  this  chaotic  period  it  was  almost  useless  to 
have  a  constructive  policy.  His  one  preoccupation 
was,  as  Aim^e  de  Coigny  afterwards  said,  to  assist  in 
allaying  violence  and  to  see  that  as  little  blood  as 
possible  be  shed.  His  moderate  colleagues  on  the 
Constitution-Committee  resigned,  but  he  and  Sieyes 
were  appointed  on  the  new  committee,  and  he  continued 
his  effort  to  frame  a  constitutional  check  for  the  daily 
increasing  violence. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE    BREACH    WITH    THE    CHURCH 

When,  in  later  years,  Talleyrand  looked  back  on  the 
many  oaths  of  allegiance  he  had  successively  sworn,  he 
affirmed  that  he  had  never  deserted  any  cause  until  it 
had  abandoned  itself.  This  is  most  certainly  true  of  his 
desertion  of  the  Royalist  cause.  His  political  ideal 
essentially  and  to  the  end  included  the  element  of 
limited  monarchy ;  and  his  whole  temper  and  taste 
would  make  him  reluctant  to  turn  from  Versailles  to  the 
Paris  of  the  end  of  1789.  A  chaos,  of  which  the  issue 
was  quite  inconceivable,  had  succeeded  to  the  older 
order.  But  the  King  and  Queen  had  surrounded 
themselves  with  evil  councillors  from  the  first,  and  the 
throne  was  tottering.  Talleyrand  took  no  part  in  the 
long  debates  on  the  King's  Veto.  The  fact  that  the 
Assembly  was  discussing  it  at  all  meant,  as  he  must  have 
seen  clearly,  that  a  greater  power  than  the  King  now 
ruled  in  France.  He  only  can  give  or  withhold  an 
authority  who  possesses  it. 

Moreover,  the  royal  party  seemed  to  learn  nothing 
from  experience  to  the  end.  The  King,  indeed,  was 
recognizing  the  permanence  of  the  Revolution  to  some 
extent  ;  nor  was  he  without  humane  consciousness  that 

80 


Ube  breacb  witb  tbe  Cburcb  8i 

it  had  been  merited.  With  a  wistful  glance  back  at  the 
golden  days  that  were  gone,  he  was  clumsily  learning 
his  part  as  "  Restorer  of  French  Liberty  "  and  loser  of 
French  autocracy.  But  "  the  Austrian  "  was  far  from 
reconciled,  and  what  was  left  of  the  light-headed  Court 
was  frenzied  with  mortification.  The  debates  on  the 
Veto  were  answered  by  the  military  banquet  in  the 
Chateau  on  October  ist,  by  the  huge  white  cockades  at 
Versailles  and  black  cockades  at  Paris.  In  the  after- 
noon of  the  5th  the  sitting  of  the  Assembly  is  disturbed 
by  whispers  of  Paris  marching  on  Versailles.  Presently 
the  trickling  stream  of  oratory  is  stopped  by  the  sound 
of  an  approaching  army,  irregular  and  noisy.  A 
deputation  from  Paris  is  announced,  and  fifteen  in- 
describable females  enter.  With  an  implied  disdain  of 
constitution-making,  they  have  come  for  mere  vulgar 
bread.  Talleyrand  and  his  colleagues  pour  out  and 
gaze  with  bewilderment  on  one  more  unique  scene  in 
the  human  drama  —  five  thousand  muddy,  draggled, 
hungry,  dangerous  women  of  every  type  and  com- 
plexion. The  rest  is  familiar,  Talleyrand  saw  the 
strange  army  surge  and  beat  and  roar  about  the  gates  of 
the  Chateau,  until  the  inevitable  shot  was  fired,  and 
the  tide  poured  in  and  for  a  moment  seemed  likely 
to  settle  a  good  deal  of  the  Constitution.  Then  it 
was  rolled  back  upon  Paris — but  taking  the  King, 
now  sunk  to  ofiice  of  "chief  baker"  with  it. 
Monarchy  was  over  in  France.  There  was  no  question 
of  deserting  it. 

6 


82  ^allesranb 

But    what    shall    we    say    of  his    desertion    of  the 
Church,  whose  rights,  privileges  and  properties  he  had 
sworn  to  defend  on  that  gala-day  at  Autun  seven  months 
ago   ?       When    we    go    back    to    his    election    address, 
endorsed  by  the  electors  as  their  cahier  of  instructions, 
we  are  reminded  that  Talleyrand  hinted  long  ago  that 
titles    to    property    must  be   scrutinised.      It   is  almost 
certain  that  he  was  thinking  of  Church  property.     How- 
ever that  may  be,  the  country  had  in  October  to  face  an 
appalling  scarcity  of  bread  and  money.     The  loans  could 
not  be  raised  :  the  silver  of  the  churches  had  been  melted 
down  :    patriotic    gifts   had   poured   fruitlessly  into   the 
insatiable    caisse  :     respectable    ladies     had    sent    their 
jewellery  and  other  ladies  had   offered   their  earnings : 
monks    had    tendered    their    monasteries.       The   whole 
nation  had  caught  the  fever  of  August  4th.      But   the 
deficit    remained,    and    very    many    eyes    were    turned 
towards   the   property  of  the   Church,   estimated   to   be 
worth  2,100,000,000  livres.     The  idea  of  appropriating 
this   to    national    purposes    had    been    broached    in    the 
Assembly  early  in  August,  and  had  been  supported  by 
several  speakers.     In  the  national  emergency  the  proposal 
was  certain  to  be  voted  sooner  or  later — probably  sooner. 
Talleyrand   put    his   name   down   for  a    speech    on    the 
subject,  and  it  was  delivered  on  October  loth.      In  it  he 
urged   the   nation   to  assume  the  ownership  of  all   the 
Church  property  in  France. 

It  is  impossible  to  read  his  speech  without  feeling 
that  a  sincere  national  interest  inspires   it.      He   points 


TLbc  brcacb  witb  tbe  Cburcb  83 

out  that,  in  its  distress,  the  nation  has  hitherto  left  one 
class  of  property  untouched,  and  that,  nevertheless,  the 
clergy  are  probably  expecting  some  change  in  their 
position,  now  that  tithe  has  been  suppressed.  The 
clergy  are  not  proprietors  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the 
word.  Estates  are  not  so  much  left  to  theniy  as  left  for 
the  performance  of  certain  functions.  A  nation  which 
has  felt  justified  in  dealing  with  tithe  may  go  on  to 
appropriate  estates.  In  this  a  great  saving  can  be  made 
without  injustice.  The  actual  revenue  of  the  Church  is 
(to  strike  the  average  of  estimates)  150,000,000.  But 
religion  can  be  fully  provided  for  by  the  State  out  of  a 
revenue  of  100,000,000,  and  this  may  be  gradually 
reduced  to  80  or  85  millions.  Sinecures  will  be 
abolished.  Useless  religious  communities  will  be  dis- 
persed and  compensated.  At  the  same  time  the  income 
of  the  cure  will  be  raised  to  1,200  livres  a  year  and  a 
house  ;  and  the  clergy  must  have  the  first  claim  on  the 
national  revenue,  and  be  paid  in  advance.  He  then 
shows  how  the  sale  of  Church  property  may  be  made  to 
yield  2,100,000,000  livres,  and  concludes  with  an 
attractive  sketch  of  the  expenditure  of  the  profit. 

The  style  of  the  speech  is  plain,  except  in  the  perora- 
tion, but  it  is  solid  and  convincing.  We  can  well  believe 
that  the  speaker  was  interrupted  over  and  over  again 
with  loud  applause.  Here  was  a  financial  expert,  and  a 
bishop,  putting  in  impressive  form  the  vague  dream  ot 
so  many  of  them.  From  the  Right,  naturally,  came  a 
flood   of  rhetoric.     The   Abbe    Maury   bitterly   assailed 


84  Ualle^ranb 

Talleyrand,  while  Mirabeau  vigorously  defended  the 
proposal.*  But  Talleyrand  took  no  further  share  in  the 
debate.  He  wished  to  speak  again  on  November  2nd, 
the  day  the  law  was  passed,  but  the  closure  had  to  be 
voted,  and  he  was  content  to  publish  his  speech  (which 
was  written,  as  was  customary  in  the  Assembly).  The 
second  speech  adds  little  to  the  first,  which  had  now,  by 
order  of  the  Assembly,  been  printed  and  distributed 
throughout  the  country.  That  he  strengthened  his 
position  with  the  Radicals  need  not  be  stated.  The 
Montteur  spoke  of  him  as  "  the  youngest,  most  intrepid, 
and  most  enlightened  prelate  in  the  ecclesiastical  college." 
The  pamphleteers  of  the  Right  denounced  him  as  "  the 
limping  devil,"  "Judas,"  "the  disgrace  and  scandal  of 
the  Clergy,  the  shame  of  the  nobility,  the  basest  and 
vilest  of  gamblers."  The  last  phrase  was  suggested  by 
the  Abbe  Maury's  declaration  that  Talleyrand  was  acting 
in  concert  with  Jewish  speculators.  We  may  remember 
that,  as  Castellane  points  out,  Talleyrand's  proposal 
would  have  the  effect  of  reducing  his  own  income  to  the 
most  slender  proportions.  We  must  admit,  too,  that 
the  appropriation  of  Church  property  was  only  a  matter 
of  time  ;  and  we  must  allow  the  probability  of  M.  de 
Lacombe's  suggestion  that  Talleyrand  feared  the  confis- 
cation would  be  carried  with  the  rough  injustice  and 
ignorance  now  so  often  exhibited  in  the  Assembly,  and 


'  Maury  was  not  without  wit.  "  Now  I  will  close  the  abbd  in  a 
vicious  circle,"  said  Mirabeau  one  day  during  one  of  their  usual  contests. 
"What!     Are  you  going  to  embrace  me?"  asked  Maury. 


TTbe  breacb  witb  tbe  Cburcb  85 

he  resolved  to  secure  a  just  and  rational  settlement  by 
his  action.  When  we  have  admitted  all  this,  there  is 
little  reason  for  us  to  seek  further  and  dishonourable 
motives.  We  shall  find  him  later  boldly  reminding  the 
Assembly  of  their  engagement  to  stoop  to  no  injustice 
in  the  matter. 

Not  so  leniently  can  we  pass  over  a  letter  to  his 
diocese,  bearing  the  date  of  October  12th,  which  must 
have  been  written  while  he  was  preparing  his  speech. 
It  enjoins  the  prayers  of  the  Quarant  Ore  in  accordance 
with  the  King's  instructions,  but  it  is  painfully  religious. 
"  The  religion  of  Our  Lord,"  it  begins,  "  is  the  firmest 
support  of  thrones,  the  most  solid  ground  for  the 
prosperity  of  States.  In  vain  does  the  pride  of  man 
spend  itself  in  brilliant  speculations  on  the  alleged  force 
of  reason  and  nature  in  systems  of  government  that  are 
independent  of  religion."  The  work  was  most  probably 
entrusted  to  Des  Renaudes.  Talleyrand's  clergy  had 
been  somewhat  shaken  when  they  heard  of  his  voting 
for  the  abolition  of  tithe.  After  his  speech  ot 
October  loth  they  wrote  a  strong  letter  of  protest. 
Talleyrand  replied  with  vague  and  mild  excuses,  and 
they  retorted  with  some  warmth  ;  but  he  took  no 
further  notice,  and  the  quarrel  was  suspended. 

Meantime  the  Assembly  had  followed  the  King  to 
Paris,  and  was  meeting  temporarily  at  the  Archbishop's 
palace,  now  deserted  by  the  emigrant  prelate.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  imagine  the  feelings  of  even  the  staid 
Talleyrand  after  this  transfer  into  the  very  crater  of  the 


86  trallc\?ranb 

national  volcano.  A  glance  at  the  Minutes  of  the 
Assembly  shows  a  kind  of  panic  amongst  the  Deputies. 
On  October  9th  the  President  was  asked  to  grant  200 
passports  to  members  of  the  Assembly.  Disease  spread 
amongst  them  with  appalling  effect  as  the  date 
approached  for  going  to  Paris.  Even  presidents  com- 
plained of  "  extinction  of  the  voice "  when  awkward 
debates  came  on  ;  and  one  needed  some  voice  in  an 
Assembly  where  three  orators  would  occupy  the  tribune 
at  once,  to  the  accompaniment  of  a  hundred  others  and 
several  hundred  spectators.  It  must  have  been  hope- 
lessly bewildering  to  moderate  politicians  and  refined 
people  like  Talleyrand.  Moreover,  one  beacon  that 
had  more  or  less  guided  him  so  far  was  extinguished. 
He  had  looked  forward  to  a  place  in  the  Ministry. 
Mirabeau  had  included  him  in  his  scheme  of  a  Ministry, 
when  the  patriots  got  wind  of  it,  and,  at  the  beginning 
of  November,  passed  a  law  that  no  member  of  the 
Assembly  should  accept  any  office  or  commission  for 
two  years  after  leaving  it.  The  pay  of  an  ordinary 
Deputy  was  1 8  francs  a  day.  Calculation  was  now  of 
little  use.  Talleyrand  must  either  emigrate,  and  leave 
France  to  the  violent  and  ignorant,  or  remain  an 
observant  member  of  the  Assembly,  and  cultivate  faith 
and  hope. 

One  better  feature  of  the  time  was  that  the 
powerful  Mirabeau  was  becoming  alarmed.  When  he 
had  whispered  to  the  President  of  the  Assembly  on 
October   5th   that  "  Paris  is   marching  on   us,"  he  had 


Zl^c  brcacb  wltb  tbe  Cburcb  87 

been  told  that  it  was  "  so  much  the  better  ;  we  shall  get 
a  Republic  all  the  sooner."  Talleyrand  and  he  and  other 
constitutionalists  met  at  the  "  Society  of  Friends  of  the 
Constitution,"  the  successor  of  the  Breton  Club,  meeting 
now  in  the  library  of  the  Jacobin  convent  in  the  Rue 
Saint-Honore.  Its  debates  were  then  quiet  and  orderly, 
the  general  public  not  being  admitted.  Most  of  the 
abler  moderates  met  there — Duport,  Barnave,  Lameth 
(the  well-known  triumvirate — "  triumscroundrelate," 
Mirabeau  said  later),  Sieyes,  Chapelier,  the  Due 
d'Aiguillon,  &c.  Many  non-deputies,  especially  writers, 
were  admitted  after  the  transfer  to  Paris,  and  the  club 
became  a  lively  centre  of  journalism  and  pamphleteering. 
Gradually  it  became  infected  with  the  general  violence 
of  the  time,  and  Talleyrand  and  the  moderates  left  it  in 
May  to  found  the  more  respectable  club  of  the  Feuillants, 
with  La  Fayette,  Bailly,  Sieyes,  Chamfort,  and  Marmontel. 
But  Paris  was  being  rapidly  denuded  of  all  that  appealed 
to  Talleyrand.  By  the  middle  of  October  there  were 
60,000  emigres  in  Switzerland  alone.  The  society  that 
replaced  them  must  have  tried  Talleyrand's  infinite 
restraint.  One  of  Napoleon's  rough  marshals  said  of 
him  that  "  you  could  attack  him  thirty  times  in  the 
rear  (coups  de  derriere)  before  any  indication  appeared  on 
his  face."  He  needed  that  quality  most  of  all  in  the 
days  of  the  Revolution. 

During  the  remainder  of  1789  he  confined  himself 
to  practical  work  and  moderation.  On  November  7th 
he   appeared   in  the  tribune   to  appeal    for    the    proper 


88  'C:aUeln•an^ 

protection  of  the  confiscated  estates.  Towards  the  close 
of  the  month  he  was  appointed  on  the  bank  committee, 
and  he  delivered  its  report  on  December  4th — a  very 
able,  technical  discourse  on  the  bank  question,  directed 
to  be  published  by  the  Assembly.  In  December  he 
helped  to  carry  the  abolition  of  the  royal  lottery,  and  in 
January  he  still  further  embittered  his  former  friends  of 
the  Right  by  securing  the  enfranchisement  of  the  Jews 
in  the  south.  We  have  also  speeches  of  his  pleading 
for  a  uniform  standard  of  weights  and  measures  in 
the  country  (of  which  he  afterwards  sent  a  copy  to 
Sir  J.  R.  Miller,  who  was  urging  the  cause  in  England), 
and  on  registration  fees  and  the  coinage  of  small  money. 
But  his  most  important  achievement  about  this 
time  was  the  eloquent  defence  of  the  Assembly  which  he 
delivered  on  February  loth.  Carlyle's  disparagement  of 
that  body's  labours  is  a  faithful,  if  not  very  judicious, 
reproduction  of  what  the  crowds  and  the  pamphleteers 
were  saying.  The  plague  of  pamphlets  was  now  at 
its  height.  E.  de  Goncourt  says  that  6,000  men  were 
engaged  in  distributing  them  daily.  The  Cordeliers 
district  had  taken  under  its  august  protection  any 
scribblers  in  its  area,  because  the  liberty  of  the  press 
followed  from  the  liberty  of  man.  As  a  result  the 
Assembly  was  constantly  attacked,  in  the  "theory- 
of- irregular- verbs "  spirit.  It  was  still  too  full  of 
"  aristocrocs  "  or  "aristocranes  ":  it  was  a  mere  talking- 
shop.  "  Dames  of  the  market "  had  been  in  it 
themselves,    and    knew.       The    Assembly    directed    its 


Zlbe  breacb  witb  tbe  Cburcb  89 

constitution-committee  to  inform  France  what  it  had 
done.  The  committee  entrusted  the  work  to  Talley- 
rand, and  he  gave  them  a  pyrotechnic  display  which 
brought  on  again  that  "species  of  intoxication"  which 
was  growing  familiar  to  chroniclers.  The  Moniteur 
reporter  (Is  there  a  parallel  to  this  in  the  history  of 
reporting  ?)  was  too  overcome  with  emotion  even  to 
remember  its  chief  points ;  but  he  excuses  himself  with 
the  plea  that  no  patriot  could  have  done  otherwise.  It 
evoked,  he  said,  "applause  without  example."  But 
it  was  read  again  the  next  day  and  published,  and  then 
scattered  lovingly  over  France  at  the  expense  of  the 
Assembly.  It  is  certainly  a  fine  piece  of  rhetoric,  with 
some  notable  phrases.  "The  King  desires  to  guard  his 
people  from  the  flatterers  he  has  driven  away  from 
his  throne."  "  Patience  !  It  is  for  liberty.  You  have 
given  so  many  centuries  to  despotism!"  Talleyrand  won 
a  great  deal  of  popularity  by  the  speech.  Ten  days 
afterwards  he  was  elected  President  of  the  Assembly 
(for  the  customary  fortnight),  in  opposition  to  Sieyes,  by 
323  votes  to  125.  He  was  often  cheered  in  the 
street,  and  once  Mirabeau  and  he  were  called  to  the 
window  by  an  admiring  crowd  during  a  banquet  at 
the  Palais  Royal. 

His    diocese,  as  we   can    imagine,    did    not   regard 
this  new  kind  ot  distinction   with  satisfaction.     At  the 
beginning  of  the  year  he  had  sent  them  his  greeting,  and 
they  had  responded.     But  during  the  stormy  debates  of 
February,  on  the  suppression  of  the  monastic  orders  and 


the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy,  they  looked  in  vain 
tor  the  name  of  their  Bishop.  Talleyrand  took  no  part 
in  the  struggle.  He  saw  the  suppression  of  monasteries 
decreed  on  February  13th — and  Capuchin  monks  rush 
to  be  shaved  as  soon  as  the  report  came,  while  others 
rushed  to  less  respectable  establishments  without  waiting 
to  cast  off  their  habits.  He  gave  no  assistance  to  the 
religious  speakers  of  April  12- 13th  who  tried  to  induce 
the  Assembly  to  make  a  formal  declaration  that  the 
Catholic  Church  was  the  Church  of  the  nation,  and  he 
refused  to  sign  their  subsequent  protest.  Then  his  clergy 
reminded  him  of  his  office.  No  doubt,  they  said,  with 
some  irony,  he  had  only  abstained  in  the  idea  of  making 
a  more  solemn  protest  at  the  head  of  his  clergy.  They 
had  signed  a  protest  and  forwarded  it  to  him  to  head 
the  list  of  signatures  and  present  to  the  Assembly.  He 
sent  a  conciliatory  reply,  pointing  out  that  it  was  unwise 
to  ask  a  political  body  to  meddle  with  religion  :  the 
Catholic  faith  was  the  religion  of  the  nation.  His  people 
were  divided  on  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  but  one  of  his 
Vicars-General  made  a  vehement  attack  on  him,  and  the 
local  pamphleteers  entertained  each  other  for  a  time. 
Talleyrand's  policy  was  really  clear  enough.  He  believed 
that  religion  was  wholly  necessary  for  the  people,  and 
had  no  thought  of  impairing  its  action.  But  he  knew 
that  there  were  grave  abuses  to  be  suppressed,  and  he 
was  content  to  watch,  in  the  interest  of  the  nation  and 
of  justice,  while  the  State  took  over  control  of  the 
Church.     Twice  he  intervened  with  dignity  and  courage 


Ubc  breacb  witb  tbc  Gburcb  91 

for  justice  to  the  clergy  ;  once  on  June  13th,  when  he 
reminded  the  Assembly  of  its  promise  to  treat  the 
despoiled  clergy  as  the  first  creditors  of  the  State,  and 
again  on  September  24th.  Dillon  afterwards  claimed 
that  he  and  the  majority  of  his  colleagues  acted  "as  true 
gentlemen,"  but  would  hardly  claim  religious  motives. 
Talleyrand  could  say  as  much. 

His  popularity  with  the  Left  and  the  bitterness  of 
the  Right  were  doubled  when  he  said  Mass  for  the  last 
time  on  July  14th — the  famous  Mass  of  the  Champ  de 
Mars.  Much  has  been  written,  in  the  way  of  sneers, 
on  that  famous  ceremony,  and  Talleyrand's  share  in  it  ; 
much  of  it  is  clearly  unjust.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  demonstration  in  the  Champ  de  Mars  was  not  a 
piece  of  ritual  arbitrarily  devised  to  satisfy  the  sooty 
citizens  who  had  taken  the  Bastille.  Before  the  end  of 
the  preceding  year  this  collective  demonstration  and 
oath-taking  had  started  in  provincial  towns.  As  the 
months  of  1790  advanced  Paris  was  piqued  to  hear  that 
town  after  town  was  solemnly  swearing  loyalty  to  King 
and  constitution — or  constitution  and  King — without 
any  lead  from  itself.  In  May  Lyons  sent  word  that  it 
had  conducted  a  most  enthusiastic  ceremony  of  the  kind. 
Paris  must  conclude  and  crown  the  series.  The 
anniversary  of  the  taking  of  the  Bastille  was  divinely 
appointed  for  it,  and  the  Champ  de  Mars  provided.  The 
municipality  decreed  it,  and  invited  delegations  from  all 
parts  of  France.  Clearly  there  were  great  moral 
possibilities  in  such  an  event.     A  banner  could  be  raised 


92  Ii:aUe\?ranb 

there  under  which  all  parties  could  gather,  except  the 
extreme  Right  ;  and  that  banner  might  be — with 
embroideries  and  fringes  —  the  banner  of  constitu- 
tionalism. As  July  14th  drew  near  everything  pointed 
to  the  realisation  of  these  hopes.  Talleyrand  was 
nominated  by  the  King  to  preside  episcopally  at  the 
function.  He  saw  the  theatre  of  the  demonstration 
growing  into  shape  during  that  marvellous  fortnight  : 
saw  boys  and  girlsj  and  university  professors  and  cures, 
and  prostitutes  and  countesses  (among  them  his  old 
friend,  Mme.  de  Genlis,  with  a  "  mahogany  barrow," 
and  a  little  model  of  the  Bastille  at  her  neck),  and 
butchers  and  brigands  and  lawyers,  decked  with 
tricolours  and  cockades,,  digging  and  singing  and 
wheeling  barrows.  It  was  a  new  "  species  of  intoxication," 
but  most  certainly  it  might  mean  a  rally  to  a  constitu- 
tional ideal,  burned  in  by  a  blazing  pageantry. 

I  believe  myself  it  was  with  these  thoughts  that 
Talleyrand  faced  his  great  audience  from  the  high  altar 
on  July  14th.  Imagine  oneself  looking  out  on  that  living 
amphitheatre  of  300,000  incandescent  souls,  all,  or  nearly 
all,  in  transfigured  earnest,  swearing  loyalty  to  King  and 
law  and  nation  ;  and  think  what  type  of  man  would  be 
like  to  mock  at  it.  Surely  not  one  who  felt,  if  ever  he 
felt  anything,  that  a  serious  rally  to  a  national  idea  was 
the  pressing  need  of  France.  The  statement  that  Talley- 
rand whispered  mocking  words  to  Lafayette  as  he 
mounted  the  steps  rests  on  the  thinnest  of  rumours,  too 
eagerly  welcomed  by  Sainte-Beuve.     Lafayette  does  not 


Ube  brcacb  wltb  tbc  Gbnrcb  93 

confirm  it  ;  he  would,  in  fact,  be  the  last  man  to  whom 
Talleyrand  would  say  them,  if  he  had  them  on  his  lips, 
for  he  would  surely  see  the  symbolic  power  of  the 
moment.  And  the  supposed  letter  to  Mme.  de  Flahaut, 
in  which  Talleyrand  is  made  to  sneer  at  the  ceremony,  is 
not  worth  considering.  For  most  of  Talleyrand's  actions 
during  these  two  years  we  have  to  construct  ourselves 
the  inner  mood.  The  memoirs  are  almost  silent.  In 
this  case  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  Talleyrand  missed 
the  real  potency  of  the  occasion,  and  we  have  no  evidence 
to  make  us  think  so.  The  suspicion  arises  from  a  two- 
fold mistake.  It  is  too  readily  assumed  that  Talleyrand 
had  no  serious  interests,  but  was  ever  in  the  mood  of 
Goethe's  Mephistopheles.  This  is  false.  His  affection 
began  at  home,  if  you  will,  but  his  public  and  political 
action  constantly  shows  that  it  did  not  end  there.  In 
the  second  place,  the  theological  element  of  the  demon- 
stration is  taken  too  literally  and  too  narrowly.  The  fact 
that  Talleyrand  and  his  deacon  and  sub-deacon  (Louis 
and  des  Renaudes)  were  rationalists  is  no  impediment 
whatever  to  their  being  thoroughly  serious.  Like  many 
priests  before  and  since  they  took  their  service 
symbolically,  and  looked  to  the  effect  on  the  audience. 
The  ceremony  was  religious  on  quite  other  grounds 
from  those  on  which  the  theologian  examines  it.  I 
respect  his  technical  objection,  but  the  religion  remains. 
For  my  part  I  cannot  conceive  a  man  so  sensible 
as  Talleyrand  was  of  the  needs  of  France,  and  the 
possibilities    of    such    a    ceremony,  looking  with   even 


94  XTalle^rant) 

indifference  from  those  altar-steps.  Would  the  fire  of 
their  enthusiasm  burn  on  ?  Would  this  idea  of  alle- 
giance to  law  and  an  orderly  constitution  work  deeper 
into  them  ?  If  so,  it  were  well  for  France  ;  but  even  if 
not,  it  was  worth  attempting.  It  was  a  great  political 
experiment. 

Talleyrand's  diocesans  would  be  represented  on 
the  benches  of  provincial  delegates,  but  we  do  not  find 
them  quarrelling  with  him  again  until  he  accepts  the 
civil  constitution  of  the  clergy.  In  the  discussions  of 
religious  and  ecclesiastical  affairs  that  continued  through 
the  whole  year  he  took  no  part,  except,  as  I  said,  to 
intervene  twice  when  there  seemed  danger  of  injustice 
to  the  clergy.  On  the  financial  side  of  the  proceedings 
he  spoke  several  times.  In  their  ignorance  of  the 
elements  of  political  economy,  the  majority  wished  to 
treat  the  confiscated  estates  as  so  much  wealth  actually 
added  to  the  country's  resources,  or  to  dispose  of  them 
at  a  ruinous  loss.  Talleyrand  firmly  pointed  out  the 
fallacies  of  their  view,  and  pleaded  for  a  wise  and 
business-like  procedure  in  turning  the  estates  into 
available  money.  The  flooding  of  the  country  with 
paper-money — "  robbery  by  violence  "  Mirabeau  called 
it — was  a  serious  addition  to  the  financial  confusion  of 
the  times.  But  in  spite  of  Talleyrand's  clear  and 
earnest  warning,  supported  by  all  the  financiers,  the 
temptation  to  issue  the  paper-currency  on  the  strength 
of  the  new  estates  was  too  great,  and  Talleyrand  had 
again   to   bemoan    in   private   the    immature   democracy 


Ube  breacb  witb  tbe  Cburcb  95 

that  had  assumed  power.  He  retained  his  popularity, 
however,  and  was  mentioned  for  the  Archbishopric  of 
Paris  in  September.  He  wrote  a  curious  letter  to  the 
Moniteur  on  the  8th  of  September,  disclaiming  any 
ambition  for  the  post,  but  at  the  same  time  replying 
to  the  personal  charges  which  the  rumour  had  caused  the 
Right  to  circulate.  He  denied  that  he  was  addicted  to 
heavy  gambling,  but  admitted  that  he  had  won  30,000 
francs  at  the  Chess  Club.  With  a  rather  hollow  show 
of  penitence,  he  allowed  that  he  had  no  excuse  to  make 
for  his  gaming,  and  said  that  the  State  ought  to  interfere 
and  protect  citizens  from  themselves  in  the  matter. 

But  the  determination  of  the  Constituent  Assembly 
to  control  the  Church  and  force  it  into  the  political 
unity  of  the  State  was  gradually  nearing  its  climax, 
and  was  to  close  Talleyrand's  clerical  career.  It  is 
hardly  surprising  that  he  did  not  take  part  in  the 
debates.  The  issue  was  never  really  doubtful,  and  on  the 
whole  would  not  displease  Talleyrand.  His  abstinence 
should  be  construed  in  his  favour  ;  no  one  could 
seriously  expect  him  to  stand  for  the  autonomy  of  the 
Church.  The  priest  was,  in  his  opinion,  a  moral 
functionary  (for  the  masses)  or  nothing,  and  his  work 
was  part  of  the  nation's  life.  His  experience  and  his 
knowledge  of  history  would  tell  him  the  danger  of 
leaving  the  clergy  "a  State  within  a  State."  He  would 
regard  with  satisfaction  the  suppression  (on  the  just 
conditions  he  had  himself  laid  down)  of  the  monastic 
orders  and  the  redistribution  of  income.    He  would  hardly 


96  xraUe^ran5 

resent  the  rearrangement  of  ecclesiastical  divisions,  the 
exclusion  of  the  Pope,  and  the  elective  character  of  the 
new  hierarchy.  Certainly  he  must  have  foreseen  the 
disturbances  that  interference  in  these  matters  would 
cause,  but  that  was  a  concern  of  the  executive.  With 
the  Archbishop  of  Sens  (de  Brienne),  the  Bishop  of 
Orleans,  the  Bishop  of  Vivieres,  three  bishops  in 
partibuSj  and  66  cures,  he  took  the  oath  and  accepted 
the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy.  Archbishop  Dillon 
and  130  prelates  refused  to  submit — the  majority  of 
them  doing  so,  Dillon  said,  as  gentlemen,  not  as 
theologians.  The  distinction  is  unfortunate,  though 
necessary.  They  had  plunged  the  country  in  a  civil 
war  which  only  a  strict  regard  for  their  theology  could 
have  justified. 

Talleyrand  had  no  more  respect  for  theology 
than  Dillon  (and  "  most  of  his  colleagues,"  to  use 
Dillon's  words),  but  he  professed  to  regard  the  new 
State  control  as  purely  disciplinary,  and  wrote  to  invite 
his  clergy  to  follow  his  example.  They  sent  him  a  fiery 
reply,  promising  him  "  infamy  in  this  world  and  eternal 
reprobation  in  the  next,"  and  declining  to  "follow 
him  into  the  abyss."  After  the  passing  of  the  civil 
constitution  the  municipal  authorities  of  Autun  had 
notified  Talleyrand's  chapter  of  the  cessation  of  their 
functions,  and  sealed  the  door  of  the  chapter-house. 
They  continued  to  meet,  however,  in  private  and  discuss 
the  morals  of  their  bishop.  In  the  rearrangement  of 
ecclesiastical  areas  the  authorities  had  contrived  to  leave 


TTbe  breacb  witb  tbe  Cburcb  97 

Autun  an  episcopal  centre,  but  on  January  21st 
Talleyrand  resigned  his  See.  He  had,  he  politely 
explained,  been  elected  a  member  of  the  Department 
of  Paris,  and  must  in  future  reside  constantly  in  the 
capital  !  Lytton's  statement  that  Talleyrand  remained 
throughout  life  very  sensitive  to  any  reference  to  his 
bishopric,  and  that  a  lady  once  greatly  disturbed  him  by 
dropping  the  word  "  lawn,"  is  not  to  be  taken  seriously. 
His  friends  continued  to  call  him  "the  bishop"  for 
years  after  (witness  the  correspondence  in  1792  of 
Narbonne  and  Lauzun).  There  is  as  little  plausibility  in 
the  story  of  the  Prince  of  Conde  once  asking  him  "what 
had  become  of  some  precious  relative  of  his  who  used 
to  be  Bishop  of  Autun."  No  one  not  gifted  with  the 
skin  of  an  elephant  would  venture  to  say  such  things 
to  Talleyrand.  I  may  add  that  Talleyrand,  under  the 
Directorate,  more  than  once  sent  help  to  emigrant 
members  of  his  old  clergy  who  had  censured  him. 

One  more  episcopal  act  must  be  mentioned  before 
Monseigneur  becomes  plain  Citizen  Talleyrand.  The 
administration  appointed  two  new  bishops,  but  had 
retained  sufficient  respect  for  the  apostolic  succession 
to  require  their  proper  consecration.  Several  of  the 
rallied  prelates  refused,  and  Talleyrand  promised  to 
officiate,  with  the  assistance  of  two  of  the  bishops  in 
pariibus,  Gobel  and  Mirondot.  The  latter  withdrew  at 
the  last  moment.  Talleyrand  saw  him,  and  is  said  to 
have  worked  on  his  feelings  by  toying  with  the  handle 
of  a  pistol   and  talking  of  suicide.     The  three  bishops 

7 


98  UaUe^ran& 

and  the  candidates  conducted  this  ceremony  on  the 
following  day  in  a  curious  environment.  The  chapel 
was  strongly  guarded  by  soldiers,  and  a  military  band 
supplied  the  music.  Saint-Sulpice  sent  its  master  of 
ceremonies  to  keep  the  eye  of  a  ritualist  expert  on 
Talleyrand,  but  was  disappointed  in  its  search  for  an 
essential  flaw.  The  American  envoy,  Morris,  tells  that 
Talleyrand's  dread  of  violence  from  the  orthodox 
occasioned  a  good  deal  of  grief  to  his  friend,  Mme. 
de  Flahaut.  The  night  before  the  ceremony  she 
received  an  envelope  containing  his  will,  and  sent  in 
search  of  him.  He  did  not  return  to  his  house  that 
night,  and  she  feared  a  catastrophe.  The  truth  was 
that,  conceiving  an  attack  to  be  possible,  he  had  slept 
away  from  home,  and  had  directed  his  will  to  be  sent  to 
her  only  in  case  of  anything  happening. 

Lytton,  a  very  careful  if  not  generous  judge  of 
Talleyrand's  career,  looks  upon  this  ordination  as  one 
of  his  "unpardonable"  acts.  It  is  one  of  those  acts  as 
to  which  one's  judgment  is  almost  inevitably  swayed 
by  one's  religious  views.  Talleyrand  explains  in  his 
memoirs  that  he  did  it  to  save  the  Gallican  Church 
from  falling  into  Presbyterianism  from  sheer  lack  of 
bishops.  The  paragraph  is  ingenious,  but  not  very 
convincing.  Nearer  to  the  point  seems  to  be  an  answer 
he  gave  in  later  years,  according  to  a  letter  of  the 
Duchess  de  Dino  to  Dupanloup.  When  asked  to 
explain  some  action  or  other,  he  answered  that  it  was 
impossible  to  explain  many  things  done  at  the  time  of 


Zbc  breacb  vvltb  tbe  Cburcb  99 

the  Revolution  ;  the  disorder  was  so  great  that  people 
hardly  knew  what  they  were  doing.  If  we  could 
succeed  in  putting  ourselves  in  the  frame  of  mind  of 
a  man  who  had  lived  through  the  bewilderingly  rapid 
changes  of  1789  and  1790,  we  should  be  in  a  position  to 
pass  moral  judgment  on  him.  To  do  it  in  the  light  of 
our  calm  standards,  in  our  placid  days,  is  absurd. 
However,  my  purpose  is  only  to  have  Talleyrand 
understood,  and  there  is  in  this  ordination  nothing 
inconsistent  with  the  ideas  and  policy  he  has  hitherto 
followed. 

But  Rome  now  found  itself  obliged  to  interfere  and 
clip  the  wings  of  this  dangerous  bishop  at  large.  On 
May  1st  the  Moniteur  published  the  announcement  from 
the  Vatican  that  Talleyrand  was  suspended,  and  would 
incur  excommunication  if  he  "  did  not  return  to  penance 
within  the  space  of  forty  days."  The  romantic 
biographers  say  that  the  only  notice  Talleyrand  took  of 
it  was  to  invite  Lauzun  to  supper  to  console  him,  adding 
that  "  as  he  was  now  denied  fire  and  water  they  would 
have  to  be  content  with  wine  and  iced  foods."  Unfor- 
tunately, the  story  had  been  told  before,  and  Talleyrand 
did  not  plagiarise.  The  censure  would  not  distress  him. 
We  can,  in  fact,  imagine  that  he  would  close  his  clerical 
career  with  some  relief.  It  had  imposed  not  a  little 
duplicity  on  him.  In  justice  to  him  we  must  remember 
that  he  had  been  forced  into  the  clerical  estate,  had  been 
unchecked  in  his  irregular  ideas  and  habits,  had  been 
promoted  from  order  to  order  by  those  who  were  fully 


loo  XTalle^rant) 

acquainted  with  them,  and,  in  fine,  found  a  position  like 
his  sanctioned  by  almost  his  whole  social  class.  Yet  this 
chapter  alone  of  his  career  will  prevent  one  from  ever 
calling  him  "great,"  except  in  the  qualified  sense  of  a 
great  diplomatist. 


CHAPTER    VI 


CITIZEN     TALLEYRAND 


Talleyrand  explains  in  the  Memoirs  that,  after 
resigning  his  bishopric,  he  "put  himself  at  the  disposal  of 
events."  "Provided  I  remained  a  Frenchman"  he  says, 
*'I  was  prepared  for  anything."  The  outlook  must  have 
been  blank  and  perplexing.  His  ecclesiastical  income 
was  entirely  stopped,  and  he  was  prevented  by  the  vote 
of  the  Assembly  from  accepting  a  place  in  the  Ministry, 
or  any  paid  office  under  Government,  for  two  years. 
He  had,  however,  been  appointed  member  of  the  newly- 
formed  and  important  Department  of  Paris  on 
January  i8th.  He  retained  this  municipal  office  for 
eighteen  months,  and  there  and  on  the  Assembly  did 
some  good  work  during  the  course  of  the  year  1791. 
Siey^s  and  Mirabeau  were  elected  with  him  :  Danton 
followed  on  January  31st.  Within  six  months  two 
events  of  great  importance  occurred — the  death  of 
Mirabeau  and  the  flight  of  the  King.  Each  event  left 
the  outlook  darker  for  constitutionalists  like  Talleyrand. 
Mirabeau  had  realised  at  length  that  France  was 
travelling  downwards^  and  had  secretly  rallied  to  the 
Court.  Talleyrand  was  accused  later  of  having  done 
the   same  ;    but   he   denied   it,   and   there  was  no   solid 

lOI 

LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


I02  X^alle^van^ 

proof,  as  we  shall  see.  It  is  by  no  means  unlikely  that 
Mirabeau  would  tell  the  King  of  Talleyrand's  disposition 
as  a  monarchist  and  constitutionalist.  On  the  extreme 
left  in  the  Assembly  a  menacing  group  was  forming,  and 
was  gaining  favour  in  Paris  and  the  provinces.  It  was 
also  dominating  the  club  at  the  Jacobins  and  extending 
its  influence  over  France  through  the  affiliated  clubs. 
Mirabeau  roared  down  the  violent  suggestions  of  these 
Marats  and  Robespierres  for  a  time,  but  his  constitution 
was  shattered*  by  excess  and  work.  He  died  on  April 
2nd,  taking  with  him,  he  said,  "the  doom  of  monarchy." 
Talleyrand  was  with  him  for  a  couple  of  hours  before 
he  died,  and  the  interview  is  generally  described  as  the 
bequeathing  of  Mirabeau's  plans  to  him.  Lamartine  says 
he  left  Talleyrand  "  all  his  grand  views  in  his  grand 
speech  ;  "  another  writer  says  he  left  him  his  idea  of  an 
alliance  between  England  and  France.  Talleyrand  read 
Mirabeau's  last  words  at  the  Assembly.  The  notion  of 
a  bequeathing  and  inheriting  of  views  is  exaggerated. 
Talleyrand  had  been  friendly  with  Mirabeau  in  the 
intervals  of  their  numerous  quarrels,  but  he  was  not  likely 
to  be  influenced  by  him — if  by  anybody.  Mirabeau's 
violence  and  intemperance  imposed  restraint  on  him. 
Their  views  largely  coincided,  and,  just  as  Talleyrand's 
few  and  wise  proposals  in  the  Assembly  had  almost 
always  had  Mirabeau's  support,  so,  now  that   Mirabeau 


*  The  legendary  suggestion  that  Talleyrand  poisoned  him  is  absolutely 
frivolous,  yet  Sainte-Beuve  professes  to  have  a  "terrible  doubt"  in  the 
matter. 


ip.    I02. 


Citizen  iralle^ran&  103 

was  gone,  Talleyrand  seemed  to  be  continuing  his  views 
in  the  Assembly.  The  idea  of  drawing  towards  England 
had  been  expressed  by  him  twelve  months  before,  in  his 
letter  to  Sir  J.  R.  Miller.  As  Talleyrand  was  nominated 
to  the  place  left  vacant  by  Mirabeau  on  the  diplomatic 
committee  he  would  naturally  begin  to  give  greater 
prominence  to  this  idea. 

A  week  later  Talleyrand  gave  a  proof  of  the 
moderation  and  splendid  balance  of  his  character. 
At  Paris  the  priests  who  would  not  take  the  oath 
according  to  the  new  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy  were 
being  roughly  handled  by  the  "patriots."  Talleyrand 
induced  the  Department  to  pass  a  measure  for  their 
protection.  Six  weeks  earlier  his  life  had  been 
threatened  by  these  "  Nonconformists,"  as  he  called 
them.  Now  he  endangered  his  popularity  in  securing 
for  them  complete  liberty  to  follow  their  cult  in  their 
own  way,  in  churches  specially  assigned  to  them.  It 
is  not  scholarship,  but  partisanship,  to  ignore  the  traits 
of  character  —  the  unchanging  concern  for  justice, 
humanity  and  moderation — which  inspire  these  inter- 
ventions on  behalf  of  his  bitter  enemies,  and  in 
antagonism  to  the  dominant  feeling,  and  then  pro- 
nounce Talleyrand  a  "sphinx."  A  little  later  (May  yth) 
he  repeated  his  plea  to  the  Assembly.  He  had  to 
report  the  discussion  of  the  constitution-committee  on 
a  decree  of  the  Department  of  Paris  in  reference  to 
deserted  religious  edifices.  He  upheld  the  right  of  the 
municipality  to  dispose  of  these,  and  went  on  to  plead 


104  ITalle^ranb 

again  for  liberty  for  the  "  Nonconformists."  "Let  us 
not  speak  of  tolerance,"  he  finely  says  ;  '*  such  a 
domineering  expression  is  an  insult,  and  should  no 
longer  be  found  in  the  language  of  a  free  and 
enlightened  people."  The  king  himself,  "  the  first 
functionary  of  the  nation,"  shall  be  free  "like  other 
functionaries"  to  worship  as  a  Nonconformist  if  he 
wishes  :  only  not  in  his  character  of  State-official.  On 
the  other  hand,  these  Nonconformists  must  drop  their 
ridiculous  talk  of  "  schism."  A  nation  cannot  be 
schismatic  until  it  declares  itself  in  rebellion  against 
the  Church.  He  politely  invites  the  Pope  to  mind  his 
own  business.  I  repeat  that  there  is  nothing  mysterious 
about  these  actions  except  to  men  whose  personal 
experience  disables  them  from  understanding  a  passion- 
less moral  and  intellectual  consistency. 

The  reference  to  the  King  reminds  us  of  the  other 
great  event  of  1791  that  prepared  the  way  for  the 
Terror.  With  religious  conscientiousness,  but  political 
folly,  the  King  had  tried  to  leave  the  Tuileries  for 
the  purpose  of  making  his  Paques  at  Saint-Cloud. 
Lafayette  was  willing  ;  but  the  Jacobins  saw,  in  long 
perspective,  a  flight  over  the  frontier  and  an  Austrian 
invasion.  There  was  another  fatal  conflict  of  mob  and 
authority,  and  victory  for  the  mob.  On  the  following 
day  the  Department  of  Paris  sent  a  letter  of  censure 
to  the  King  for  his  impolitic  attempt.  M.  Belloc  says 
the  letter  has  been  imputed  to  Danton,  but  was  really 
written  by  Talleyrand.     He  is  quite  right,  as  Talleyrand 


Clti3en  I^aUevlran^  105 

says  in  his  letter  to  the  Convention  from  London 
(December  12th,  1792),  that  he  "  redacted  this  famous 
address  of  the  Department,"  and,  in  fact,  took  it  himself 
to  the  King  :  not  impossibly  using  the  opportunity  to 
gild  the  pill.  But  the  brain  of  Louis  XVI  was  not 
likely  to  be  the  only  one  to  remain  unintoxicated  in 
such  times.  Indeed,  calm  political  wisdom,  looking  back 
now  from  placid  studies,  is  at  a  loss  to  determine  the 
move  he  ought  to  have  taken.  A  royalist  plot,  an 
unguarded  door,  and  he  was  off  on  the  night  of 
June  20th  for  Metz.*  On  the  evening  of  the  26th 
Talleyrand  saw  the  sad  return  again  through  the  lane 
of  some  hundred  thousand  faces,  not  now  cheering, 
not  frigidly  silent,  but  surly  and  menacing.  For  a  time 
the  increased  danger  rallied  the  constitutionalists.  They 
had  left  the  Jacobin  club,  and  met  at  the  Feuillants,  where 
all  that  was  left  of  moderation  and  constitutionalism 
now  gathered.  But  the  ancient  homes  of  the  Dominicans 
(Jacobins)  and  the  Franciscans  (Cordeliers)  had  become 
furnaces,  heating  Paris.  The  party  on  the  extreme 
Left  had  found  a  "new  fact"  to  proceed  on.  Talleyrand's 
speech  of  May  yth  had  been  loudly  applauded  and 
placardedf  over  Paris  and  the  provinces.  Evidently 
the  situation  was  then  far  from  hopeless.  But  this 
pardonable   madness — unpardonable   only   in   its   stupid 

*  It  is  assumed  by  some  biographers  that  Talleyrand  was  privy  to 
the  plot.  There  is  no  evidence  whatever  of  this,  and  I  think  it  quite 
improbable. 

t  The  reader  maj'  usefully  be  reminded  that  the  fashion  had  come  in 
at  that  time  of  pasting  several-page  leaflets  on  the  walls. 


io6  Ualle^ranb 

details  and  blunders  —  of  the  King  had  wrought 
terrible  mischief.  Paris  rose,  and  Lafayette  crushed 
it,  and  made  it  a  more  bitter  enemy  than  ever  of 
constitutionalism,  more  accessible  to  the  new  Domini- 
cans and  Franciscans — Danton,  Marat,  Desmoulins, 
Petion,  Robespierre,  and  the  rest. 

One  other  day  does  Talleyrand  fill  the  Salle  de 
Manege  with  ringing  applause  before  the  Constituent 
Assembly  breaks  up.  We  rarely  catch  sight  of  him  in 
these  long  and  angry  debates  that  fill  whole  sessions, 
when  the  victory  is  to  the  strong-lunged.  But  nearly 
on  every  single  occasion  when  his  low-pitched,  deliberate 
voice  is  heard,  putting  judicious  views  in  temperate, 
lucid,  convincing  language,  he  obtains  his  point.  On 
September  loth  he  has  his  last  declaration  to  make  in 
the  name  of  the  constitution-committee,  a  report  of  their 
views  on  education.  It  is,  of  course,  disputed  whether 
Talleyrand  wrote  the  speech.  Some  attribute  it  to 
Chamfort,  others  to  Condorcet,  others  to  des  Renaudes. 
Talleyrand  distinctly  claims  it,  acknowledging  his  debt 
to  the  chief  savants  of  the  time — Lagrange,  Lavoisier, 
Laplace,  Monge,  Condorcet,  Vicq  d'Azir,  la  Harpe,  and 
others.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  most  remarkable  presentation  ot 
the  best  opinions  of  the  time,  united  in  a  brilliant  scheme 
of  national  education.  We  know  that  Talleyrand  had  a 
habit  of  writing  a  heap  of  scrappy  notes  and  leaving  it 
to  his  secretary  to  unite  them  :  just  as  M.  de  Bacourt 
has  done  with  the  memoirs.  In  this  sense  the  finished 
manuscript     is     possibly    the    work    of   des    Renaudes, 


Citizen  Z^aUc^ran^  107 

but  the  vast  and  striking  scheme  is  a  construction  of 
Talleyrand's.  Long  before,  Morris  had  said  that  educa- 
tion was  "  the  bee  in  Talleyrand's  bonnet." 

He  begins  with  a  ruthless  account  of  the  pre- 
Revolutionary  education,  and  makes  an  appeal  to  the 
Assembly  to  complete  its  work  with  a  worthy  system  of 
national  instruction.  Education  must  be  universal,  free, 
the  same  for  both  sexes  (this  he  modifies  presently),  and 
must  regard  adults  as  well  as  children.  It  must  include 
lessons  on  religion,  but  its  lessons  in  morality  and  civism 
must  be  completely  separated  from  these,  and  purely 
humanitarian.  Thinkers  must  be  invited  to  draw  up 
manuals  for  this  most  important  section  of  the  code. 
The  organisation  must  correspond  to  the  civic  organisa- 
tion. The  primary  schools  must  be  under  the  control 
ot  the  elementary  political  division.  Secondary  schools 
must  be  set  up  by  the  District,  technical  schools  by  the 
Department,  and  there  must  be  a  great  central  Institute 
at  Paris.  The  State  must  provide  all  primary  educa- 
tion, and  it  must  found  and  assist  higher  schools,  but  in 
these  the  pupil  must  contribute  ;  though  the  State  will 
see  that  poverty  does  not  exclude  able  youths.  Girls 
will  have  equal  instruction  with  boys  in  the  primary 
schools,  and  a  few  higher  schools  will  be  provided  for 
them,  but  the  home  must  be  their  chief  school  (this  is 
put  in  rather  awkwardly  towards  the  close).  The 
construction  of  the  scheme  must  proceed  slowly  and 
cautiously.  No  children  under  seven  shall  attend 
school.     The  work  of  the  technical  or  special  schools  is 


io8  XTalle^rant) 

very  fully  discussed.  First  amongst  them  he  puts 
"schools  of  theology,"  and  in  these  the  subtleties  of  the 
older  theology  shall  be  avoided,  and  a  solid,  rational 
Christian  doctrine  expounded.  There  is  not  a  shade  of 
offence  to  old  ideas  or  colleagues  in  the  phrasing.  The 
work  of  the  medical,  legal,  and  military  schools  is 
similarly  analysed.  The  Institute,  for  which  he  makes 
a  stirring  appeal,  is  to  have  the  first  professors  in  France 
and  the  best  laboratories  and  equipment  ;  it  shall  have 
branches  all  over  the  country.  Public  libraries  must  be 
built  in  connection  with  all  higher  schools.  The  French 
language  is  to  be  purified  and  strengthened.  National 
flutes  shall  be  designed  by  artists  and  scientists,  and  form 
part  of  the  great  scheme  of  uplifting  the  people. 

Jules  Simon  has  described  this  speech  as  "at  once 
a  law  and  a  book,"  and  Renan  says  it  is  "  the  most 
remarkable  theory  of  public  instruction  that  has  ever 
been  propounded  in  France."  It  is  certainly  a  won- 
derful vision,  in  its  general  outline,  of  the  education  of 
the  future.  No  doubt  thinkers  and  reformers  of  all 
schools  were  working  for  a  reform  of  education.  The 
clergy  themselves  were  prepared  on  the  eve  of  the 
States-General  to  respond  to  the  demand  for  progress. 
But  only  a  few  in  France  were  fully  acquainted  with 
the  views  of  the  expert  thinkers,  and  Talleyrand  did  a 
fine  piece  of  work  in  thus  presenting  them.  Unfor- 
tunately, a  firework  of  applause  was  all  that  he  could 
obtain.  The  subject  was  deferred — for  ten  years,  as  it 
turned    out.      The    sadly    imperfect    education    of    the 


Citi3cn  xralle^ran&  109 

earlier  regime  was  succeeded  by  the  complete  absence  ot 
it  during  the  Revolution.  Talleyrand  had  to  wait  for 
the  genius  of  Napoleon  to  make  a  beginning  with  his 
scheme.  It  is  growing  near  to  realization  in  the 
twentieth  century. 

On  the  30th  of  September  the  Constituent 
Assembly  broke  up.  It  had  at  length  completed  the 
constitution.  Those  who  think  lightly  of  its  work, 
who  see  only  its  constitution-committee,  and  that  on 
its  vulnerable  side,  may  be  asked  to  conceive  France 
without  it  during  those  two  years  and  a  half ;  as  well 
try  to  conceive  Paris  in  some  order  without  Lafayette 
and  his  National  Guard.  But  what  it  did,  and  what 
its  constitution  was  worth,  and  how  anarchy  had  grown 
too  strong  before  it  was  given — all  these  things  are  told 
in  the  larger  story  of  the  Revolution.  One  thing  it 
did  that  affected  Talleyrand.  It  bound  its  members 
to  refrain  from  taking  office  or  commission  or  gift  or 
pension  for  two  years.  "  Greenish  "  Robespierre  had 
proposed  this.  As  a  consequence  the  nation  was 
deprived  of  the  service  of  its  most  trained  and  expert 
governors  and  administrators.  A  special  gallery  was 
appointed  from  which  they  might  witness  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  new  Legislative  Assembly,  and  be  able 
to  afford  friendly  hints  in  private  ;  but  a  vast  amount 
of  talent  was  wasted  at  a  critical  period.  So  slow  and 
delicate  had  been  the  transfer  of  executive  power,  so 
dazzling  the  new  ideal  of  liberty  to  the  emancipated, 
so    strong  and    daring    the    self-assertion    of  mobs,    so 


no 


xraUevrant) 


skilled  the  art  of  the  demagogue,  that  the  air  was  thick 
with  dangers.  It  would  need  all  the  sound  heads  and 
steady  arms  in  France  to  launch  that  new  Constitution 
safely  on  such  waters  ;  and  they  began  by  turning  the 
majority  of  the  soundest  and  steadiest  away. 

Talleyrand,  with  ever  mistier  prospect  in  front,  did 
what  he  could  in  the  next  three  months.  The  Girondists 
had  quickly  come  to  power  in  the  new  Assembly, 
decreed  death  and  confiscation  against  emigrants,  and 
pronounced  expulsion  against  all  priests  who  would  not 
take  the  oath.  They  then  asked  the  Department  of 
Paris  to  furnish  a  list  of  suspected  priests,  but  it  refused 
to  do  so.  Talleyrand  and  several  other  of  its  members 
even  went  on  to  beg  the  King  not  to  sanction  the  decree 
of  November  29th  against  the  non-swearing  priests.  The 
sections  at  Paris  unsuccessfully  demanded  their  impeach- 
ment for  the  letter.  Later,  in  December,  we  find  him 
prevailing  upon  the  Department  to  pay  the  salaries  of 
the  non-juring  priests.  It  is  his  last  official  act  before 
he  leaves  France.  But  the  significance  of  these  two  acts 
should  not  be  neglected.  At  a  time  when  the  more 
violent  are  seizing  power,  our  excommunicated  bishop — 
our  "Judas,"  and  all  the  rest — with  no  position,  exerts 
himself  to  rescue  from  them  his  most  bitter  opponents. 

But  Talleyrand  had  now  completed  the  first  part  of 
his  career,  and  was  about  to  enter  the  path  of  diplomacy. 
Paris  became  less  attractive  every  month.  He  began  to 
think  of  foreign  embassies.  No  doubt  these  also  were 
forbidden    by   the   September   decree,   but  in   regard  to 


Cltisen  ^alle^ranb  m 

these  at  least  it  was  possible  to  evade  the  measure. 
Moreover,  war  had  at  length  been  decided  on,  and 
Talleyrand  would  be  of  use  in  keeping  England  neutral. 
Early  in  December  we  find  an  active  correspondence 
going  on  between  Talleyrand,  Narbonne  (now  Minister 
of  War)  and  de  Biron  (formally  Lauzun).  Talleyrand, 
in  the  capital,  is  evidently  in  close  touch  with  the  new 
Ministry,  and  not  without  influence  over  de  Lessart, 
De  Biron  is  pressed  to  take  up  military  command  ;  he 
in  turn  suggests  that  an  ambassador  should  be  sent  to 
London.  Talleyrand  proposes  De  Biron  himself,  who 
knows  London  well.  Be  Biron  cannot  be  spared  from 
the  army,  and  suggests  Talleyrand.  De  Lessart,  the 
Minister,  presses  him  to  accept,  and  in  January  he  starts 
for  England,  with  an  informal  diplomatic  mission. 

Talleyrand  left  his  country,  but  not  Paris,  with 
reluctance.  The  Paris  he  had  so  much  enjoyed  up  to 
1789  was  changed,  desecrated,  beyond  endurance. 
Closed  now  were  most  of  the  fine  salons  where  he 
had  played  and  talked.  Hardly  could  a  Mme.  de  Stael 
and  a  few  survivors  restore  some  faint  gleam  of  the 
faded  brilliance.  Even  her,  with  all  her  devotion  to 
him  and  her  great  helpfulness,  he  never  loved.  "  I 
believe  we  are  both  in  it,  disguised  as  women,"  he 
said,  with  piercing  cruelty,  of  the  novel  in  which  she 
afterwards  depicted  their  relations.*  Apart  from  one 
or  two  houses,  Paris  was  getting  insufferable.     Ugliness, 

*  She  had  introduced  a  female  friend  to  stand  for  the  man  she  really 
intended,  Tallejrand. 


112  Uallepran^ 

vulgarity,  strident  pedantry  of  the  ignorant  sort,  followed 
one  everywhere.  Your  servant,  sweeping  the  salon 
while  you  spoke  to  your  visitor,  could  join  in  the 
conversation.  "Who.'*  Montmorin  ?  He's  a  scoundrel," 
interrupted  one,  while  his  mistress  and  visitor  were 
discussing  the  late  minister.  The  drawing-rooms  of 
new  Paris  were  hung  with  blatant  caricatures.  Ladies 
wore  the  tricolour  even  in  the  shape  of  boots.  Jewellery 
had  been  replaced  by  bits  of  Bastille  stone.  Some 
wore  red  dresses,  of  the  shade  "  Foulon's  blood."  The 
graceful  furniture  of  the  preceding  generation  was 
replaced  by  pseudo-classic  of  the  crudest  sort. 

Abroad  there  was  no  chance  of  eluding  the  growing 
coarseness  without  hearing  the  word  "  aristocroc,"  if  not 
"lanterne."  Old  titles  had  been  abolished,  as  well  as 
armorial  bearings.  Now  "thou"  and  "thee"  were 
being  thought  patriotic  ;  the  fashion  would  presently  be 
enforced  by  law.  Patriots  of  the  more  thorough  kind 
were  discovering  that  it  was  beneath  the  dignity  of  a  man 
to  raise  his  hat,  or  bow,  or  be  polite  in  the  old  fashion. 
From  equality  they  were  passing  on  to  that  idea  of 
fraternity  which  Chamfort — who  was  venting  lurid 
phrases  in  the  middle  of  it  all — described  as  :  "  Be  my 
brother,  or  I'll  kill  thee."  Solicitation  on  the  streets  or 
at  the  Palais  became  disgusting.  Coureur  des  filles  had 
been  a  term  of  reproach  in  the  day  of  liaisons.  Now 
60,000  of  them,  most  of  them  about  14  or  15  years  old, 
calculated  to  be  making  an  income  of  143,000,000  a  year, 
held  the  city.     Caricatures  and  pamphlets  became  grosser 


Citi3en  I^a^eY>ran^  113 

every  week,  the  press  more  strident  and  hysterical. 
Every  wall  was  covered  with  gaudy  placards.  Even 
classic  dramas  were  altered  to  suit  the  patriotic  taste. 

From  such  a  picture  the  refined  noble,  to  whom  the 
supreme  virtue  was  taste,  turned  wearily  away.  At  the 
same  time  it  did  seem  probable  that  he  could  be  very 
useful  at  London.  Pitt's  bias  for  peace  was  known,  as 
well  as  the  sympathy  of  Fox  and  the  Opposition.  But 
the  emigrants  were  employing  every  fair  and  foul  means 
in  their  power  to  alarm  and  alienate  England.  For 
France  its  neutrality,  at  least,  was  supremely  important 
in  face  of  the  inevitable  war  on  the  continent.  Pitt, 
Grenville  and  Dundas,  were  known  to  be  favourable  ;  but 
Camden,  Thurlow,  and  especially  the  King,  were  very 
unfavourably  disposed.  So,  urging  de  Lessart  to  fix  up 
the  fleet — "  one  must  talk  to  the  northern  powers  with 
an  army,  and  to  England  with  a  fleet  " — Talleyrand 
departed  for  London,  which  he  reached  on  January  24th. 

His  difficulties  began  before  he  arrived.  He  was 
delayed  at  the  coast  for  a  day,  and  so  did  not  reach 
London  at  the  appointed  time.  But  the  London  press 
had  announced  his  arrival,  all  the  same,  and  added  that 
he  had  been  badly  received  by  Pitt.  It  was  the  opening 
of  the  subterranean  campaign  of  his  former  friends,  now 
needy  and  embittered  emigrants,  at  London.  Pitt,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  received  him  with  the  utmost  polite- 
ness, but  nothing  more.  He  reminded  Talleyrand  of 
their  earlier  meeting  at  Rheims,  and  declared  his 
satisfaction   at   being    able    to    discuss    the   situation   in 

8 


H4  Ualle^rauC) 

France  with  o^e  so  well  informed,  but  said  that 
Talleyrand's  unofficial  character  prevented  him  from 
going  any  further.  Talleyrand  was,  of  course,  really 
holding  an  official  and  salaried  appointment,  but  no 
action  could  be  taken  that  might  expose  this  to  the 
keen  scent  of  the  patriots  at  home.  He  had  to  pursue 
his  task  with  double  diplomacy,  and  he  succeeded  very 
well  until  the  Terror  made  England  recoil.  He  saw 
the  King  on  February  ist,  and  was  received  with  frigid 
correctness  ;  the  Queen  would  not  speak  to  him.  He 
then  saw  Lord  Grenville.  For  three-quarters  of  an 
hour  he  held  Grenville  listening  to  an  explanation  of 
the  situation,  politely  suppressing  all  his  attempts  to 
speak,  and  postponing  his  answer.  But  Grenville  could 
only  follow  Pitt's  example.  He  intimated  plainly 
enough  to  Citizen  Talleyrand  in  his  private  capacity 
that  England  strongly  desired  peace,  but  he  could  make 
no  official  communication  to  him.  Beyond  this  Talley- 
rand could  do  nothing  with  the  Government.  It  seemed 
to  have  a  surprising  respect  for  the  decree  of  the 
Constituent  Assembly  which  said  that  Talleyrand  must 
be  a  private  individual.  Talleyrand  did  not  appreciate 
such  virtue.  However,  he  really  did  a  good  deal  with 
Grenville  in  the  way  of  arranging  the  details  of  the 
understanding  between  the  two  countries. 

On  the  other  hand  Talleyrand  neglected  no 
opportunity  of  cultivating  English  society.  When  we 
find  him  in  1802  instructing  the  French  representative 
at  London  to  accept  all   invitations  and  make  frequent 


Citisen  xralle\?ranC)  115 

attendance  at  the  Exchange  ("there  is  nearly  always  a 
Minister  about")  we  can  see  his  own  conduct  of  1792. 
He  became  very  friendly  with  Lord  Lansdowne,  and 
was,  naturally,  warmly  welcomed  by  Fox,  Sheridan,  and 
their  party.  His  chief  first  impression  of  England  was 
its  slowness  ;  it  is  more  curious  to  find  that  this  was  the 
chief  impression  he  himself  made  on  his  hosts.  This 
was  owing  to  the  reputation  of  his  gay  life  in  the 
eighties,  which  had  preceded  him,  and  partly  to  the 
ineradicable  English  idea  of  the  French  character.  No 
doubt  there  was  some  excuse  for  it  in  those  days. 
England  had  listened  with  open  mouth  to  the  news  of 
the  grand  pyrotechnic  displays  of  French  emotion  in 
1790  and  1 79 1.  The  reports  had  not  lost  colour  in 
crossing  the  Channel,  Journalism  and  caricature  and 
Burke-oratory  had  effectively  conveyed  them  to  the 
British  imagination.  Emigrant  conduct  during  the  same 
period  would  doubtless  confirm  the  idea  that  the 
Frenchman  was  a  bundle  of  doubly-charged  nerves.  To 
these  stolid  fathers  of  ours  with  such  an  expectation  the 
person  of  Talleyrand  was  a  mystery.  One  of  the  gayest 
figures  of  pre-Revolutionary  days,  with  a  reputation  for 
keenest  wit  and  brilliant  mots^  and  now  hot  from  the 
crater  of  the  volcano,  he  was  expected  to  dance  and 
gesticulate  and  emit  electric  phrases.  Instead  they 
were  introduced  to  a  pale,  sedate,  stolid-looking  man, 
who  hardly  opened  his  mouth  after  the  first  quiet  and 
brief  courtesies  were  over.  With  closer  friends 
Talleyrand    enjoyed  himself  in   the  old  way.      But   he 


ii6  xraUepran& 

wore  a  diplomatic  sedateness  on  ordinary  occasions ;  and 
his  puffy,  rounded  face  and  full  figure,  his  perfect  ease 
and  quietness  of  bearing,  and  his  deep,  slow,  sententious 
speech,  disconcerted  people. 

In  his  letters  to  de  Lessart  he  shows  that  his 
feelings  were  lively  enough  beneath  this  exterior. 
What  with  provincial  risings  and  foreign  threats  and 
Jacobin  violence,  poor  de  Lessart  was  too  distracted  to 
pay  adequate  attention  to  Talleyrand's  mission,  and  the 
letters  to  him  are  impatient.  "  Kill  each  other  or 
embrace,"  urged  Talleyrand,  when  he  heard  of  the 
quarrels  at  Paris.  Moreover,  his  companion  in  London 
had  gravely  compromised  him.  Narbonne  had  given 
de  Biron  a  commission  to  buy  horses  in  England  for 
the  army,  and  he  accompanied  Talleyrand  in  January. 
His  real  purpose  was  to  introduce  Talleyrand  in 
London  society,  with  which  he  was  familiar — unfortu- 
nately, too  familiar  ;  he  was  arrested  for  debt  shortly 
after  they  landed.  De  Biron  swears  the  bills  were 
forged,  and  others  talk  of  emigrant  plots.  The  truth 
seems  to  be  that  he  gambled  very  heavily  at  the  London 
clubs.  At  these  places  the  stewards  obliged  the  players 
with  loans,  at  a  good  discount.  De  Biron,  dreaming  of 
easy-going  Paris,  where  there  were  no  debtors'  prisons, 
was  a  good  customer.  Between  former  visits  and  the 
present  one  he  owed  about  ^16,000.  Some  of  his 
creditors  closed,  and  the  Colonel  found  himself  in  the 
King's  Bench.  French  visitors  often  failed  to  realise 
the    new  conditions.      The    Count    d'Artois    had    only 


Citi3en  UaUcvran5  117 

escaped  imprisonment  by  seeking  sanctuary  at  Holy- 
rood.  Talleyrand,  greatly  annoyed,  employed  Erskine 
to  dispute  the  bills  or  raise  the  plea  of"  privilege,"  but 
he  failed  on  both  counts.  Lauzun  was  eventually 
bought  out  by  Lord  Rawdon  and  a  French  admirer, 
and  retired  in  a  violent  passion  to  France.  The  episode 
was  not  lost  on  the  emigrants  and  French  libellists, 
whose  spicy  contributions  to  the  London  press  were 
appreciated.  A  further  source  of  annoyance  was  that 
the  Times  made  a  violent  attack  on  Talleyrand,  on  the 
ground  of  his  constant  intercourse  with  the  Opposition 
and,  it  alleged,  with  such  men  as  Tooke  and  Paine. 
There  is  a  letter  from  one  of  their  secret  agents  to 
the  French  Government  which  says  that  the  English 
Ministers  were  annoyed  at  Talleyrand's  relations  with 
the  Opposition,  but  it  adds  that  his  culture  and  dignity 
have  made  a  good  impression  in  England. 

Talleyrand  now  thought  it  would  be  better  to  have 
a  nominal  ambassador  at  the  Court,  through  whom  he 
could  act  with  greater  effect,  and  he  crossed  over  to 
Paris  in  March  to  persuade  de  Lessart.  That  Minister 
had  disappeared  when  he  arrived  (March  loth),  but  he 
convinced  his  successor,  Dumouriez,  of  the  importance 
of  the  matter,  and  returned  to  London  (April  29th)  with 
three  companions  (besides  des  Renaudes,  who  had  been 
with  him  all  along).  Talleyrand  had  asked  for  the  young 
Marquis  de  Chauvelin  as  ambassador.  Duroveray,  who 
knew  England,  was  appointed  in  much  the  same  position 
as   Talleyrand,  and  Reinhard  was   secretary.     The  long 


ii8  Ualleprant) 

instructions  which  were  given  them,  directing  them  to 
press  for  an  alliance,  or  at  least  for  perfect  neutrality, 
and  to  negotiate  a  loan  with  England's  credit,  and  in 
return  for  the  island  of  Tobago,  were  either  written  by 
Talleyrand  or  from  his  notes.  He  intended  to  leave 
very  little  to  his  ■prete-nom  ;  who,  unfortunately,  intended 
to  do  very  much.  The  idea  had  been  to  appoint  a 
competent  nonentity.  Chauvelin  proved  both  incom- 
petent and  self-assertive  enough  to  harass  Talleyrand. 
His  luggage  was  opened  at  the  custom-house  and  found 
to  contain  contraband  goods.  The  hostile  press  was 
not  impressed  by  the  new  embassy.  Tory  shops  in 
Piccadilly  exhibited  strong  caricatures  of  Talleyrand. 
But  such  insinuations  as  this  were  grossly  misplaced. 
Talleyrand  had,  as  a  member  of  the  diplomatic  com- 
mittee at  Paris,  fought  successfully  against  the  demand 
for  a  revolutionary  propaganda  abroad,  and  he  censured 
very  severely  the  conduct  of  one  or  two  ambassadors 
who  obtruded  their  republicanism  at  Foreign  Courts. 
But,  besides  the  incompetence  of  Chauvelin — who  was 
once  sharply  pulled  up  by  Lord  Grenville  for  his 
language,  when  he  had  boldly  acted  without  Talleyrand 
— a  great  deal  of  mischief  was  done  by  the  press  on  both 
sides.  This  letter  of  Lord  Grenville's  was  published  in 
the  emigrant  papers,  and  the  King's  private  letter  to 
George  III  was  published  almost  before  it  was  delivered. 
The  Parisian  journals,  on  the  other  hand,  were  full  of 
tactless  and  irritating  announcements  of  an  impending 
revolution  in  England,  and  attacks  on  the  King  and  his 


Citisen  XTallevranb  119 

Ministers.  Few  but  members  of  the  Opposition  would 
now  entertain  the  French  envoys.  On  one  occasion, 
when  they  went  in  a  body  to  Ranelagh,  they  were  most 
ostentatiously  shunned  by  the  whole  crowd.  English 
spies  were  constantly  at  their  heels.  Exaggerated 
reports  of  events  in  France  were  circulated,  and 
Talleyrand  was  left  without  any  official  information. 
He  complained  bitterly  to  Dumouriez  of  their  "painful 
and  embarrassing  situation."  * 

But,  in  spite  of  all  the  difficulties,  Talleyrand 
succeeded  very  well.  If  an  alliance  was  concluded  with 
England,  Austria  would  reflect  a  little  longer  before 
interfering  in  French  affairs  ;  hence  the  desperate 
intrigues  of  the  royalists  to  prevent  such  alliance.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  continental  coalition  against  France 
was  strengthening  the  anti-French  elements  in  England. 
At  the  beginning  of  May  Prussia  made  overtures  to 
England.  Pitt  rejected  them,  and  stood  firm  for 
neutrality.  On  May  25th  he  was  induced  to  have  a  public 
declaration  made  of  neutrality,  and  Talleyrand  scored 
his  first  diplomatic  triumph.  He  does  not  forget  to  tell 
Dumouriez  that  it  would  be  well  if  his  (Talleyrand's) 

*  -Most  of  the  reports  of  the  embassy  to  the  Foreign  Minister  (published 
by  Pallain)  were  obviously  written  or  dictated  by  Talleyrand.  At  the  end 
of  the  report  of  May  28th  Chauvelin  is  made  to  say  very  pointedly  that, 
though  he  alone  signs,  "  nous  '  means  all  three  of  them.  In  one  dispatch 
Talleyrand  thus  describes  the  English  (for  whom  he  had  a  genuine 
regard :  there  is  not  a  sharp  or  sarcastic  word  about  them  in  these 
letters)  :  "  A  nation  slow  and  methodical  by  temperament,  and  which, 
unceasingly  occupied  with  its  commercial  interests,  does  not  care  to  be 
constantly  diverted  from  it  by  political  controversy."  He  is  explaining 
why  the  French   Revolution  has  little  echo  in  England." 


I20  Ii;alleKan& 

name  were  mentioned  in  the  Paris  journals.  But 
Dumouriez  was  exacting.  He  pressed  for  an  alliance, 
and  for  explicit  statements  as  to  England's  position  if 
the  war  in  Belguim  led  to  a  conflict  with  Holland. 
Talleyrand  kept  his  position  skilfully  between  the  two 
Governments,  each  now  impelled  by  a  heated  nation,  but, 
in  June  the  French  Ministry  was  again  broken  up  and 
Dumouriez  dismissed.  A  few  days  later  came  the  news 
of  the  invasion  of  the  Tuileries.  A  private  letter  from 
the  Duke  de  la  Rochefoucauld  warned  Talleyrand  of 
the  grave  development  in  Paris,  and  appealed  to  him 
to  come  over  and  strengthen  the  Department  of  Paris, 
of  which  he  was  still  a  member. 

On  July  5th  Talleyrand  again  set  out  for  Paris. 
He  had  immediately  (June  22nd)  applied  to  the  Foreign 
Minister  for  leave  of  absence  for  a  fortnight,  in  order  to 
come  and  confer  with  him  at  Paris.  His  real  purpose 
was  to  study  the  latest  development  of  the  situation. 
The  King  was  now  a  mere  puppet  in  the  hands  of  the 
people  ;  and,  without  army,  France  had  declared  war  on 
Europe.  Talleyrand,  with  a  sigh,  went  over  to  study 
this  latest  phase,  and  wonder  what  the  abyss  would 
produce  next.  It  proved  to  be  the  close  of  his  first 
diplomatic  mission. 


CHAPTER   VII 


EXILE 


Talleyrand  arrived  at  Paris  just  in  time  to  witness  the 
last  weak  struggle  of  order  against  anarchy.  Lafayette 
had  flown  back  to  Paris,  had  fruitlessly  appealed  to  the 
Legislative  Assembly  against  the  Jacobins,  had  just  as 
fruitlessly  appealed  to  lawless  order  against  lawless 
disorder,  and  had  retired  in  despair  to  his  army.  How- 
ever, the  Department  of  Paris,  which  still  represented 
the  orderly  and  stable  elements  of  the  city,  had 
suspended  the  Mayor,  Petion,  the  day  after  Talleyrand 
left  London.  The  forest  of  pikes  glistened  in  the 
streets  once  more,  and  the  Legislative  Assembly  was 
forced  to  restore  Petion  to  office  and  abandon  the 
Department.  Talleyrand,  la  Rochefoucauld,  and  other 
moderates,  then  resigned  their  positions,  and  awaited 
the  next  step  of  the  mob  and  the  Jacobins.  The 
following  day  was  the  anniversary  of  the  fall  of  the 
Bastille,  and  though  it  passed  quietly  Talleyrand  would 
observe  the  fiercer  attitude  of  the  crowd  and  its 
emblems.  He  and  la  Rochefoucauld  were  passing 
under  the  balcony  of  the  Tuileries  that  evening  when 
the    Queen    nodded    to   them.      Talleyrand   must  have 

121 


122  ^alle^ranb 

made  his  own  reflections  on  this  ;  also  on  the  unpleasant 
spirit  it  at  once  provoked  in  the  crowd. 

Talleyrand  lingered  beyond  his  fortnight.  The 
atmosphere  was  sultry,  electric.  Something  would 
happen  soon — something  graver  than  all  the  grave  rest. 
Provincial  petitions  began  to  trickle  in  praying  for  the 
deposition  of  the  King,  On  August  3rd  Mayor  Petion 
comes  openly,  at  the  head  of  the  municipal  officers  in 
their  tricolour  scarves,  to  demand  it  of  the  Assembly. 
The  fiery  Marseillais  have  arrived  ;  fiery  troops  are 
pouring  in  from  all  parts  of  France.  The  official 
declaration  that  "  the  country  is  in  danger  "  has 
strengthened  the  Jacobins.  On  the  8th  of  August  the 
Assembly  refuse  to  condemn  Lafayette,  and  its  refusing 
majority  is  hunted  by  the  crowd.  On  the  9th  it  must 
discuss  the  question  of  the  deposition  of  the  King.  It 
can  come  to  no  resolution,  and  sits  wavering  between 
the  pale  ghost  of  loyalty  and  the  city  of  pikes.  That 
night  the  insurrection  becomes  fully  conscious  of  its 
power.  At  sunrise  the  grim  flood  surges  again  about 
the  walls  and  flows  over  the  terraces  and  through  the 
outer  gates  of  the  Tuileries.  The  Swiss  guards  are 
provoked  into  firing,  and  within  a  few  hours  nearly 
2,000  lie  dead.  Paris  has  tasted  blood  now  with  fearful 
effisct.  It  has  1,200  patriots  to  avenge.  The  King  is 
"  suspended  "  ;  a  National  Convention  is  summoned, 
with  no  restriction  whatever  on  electors  or  candidates. 

What  Talleyrand  thought  at  this  time  we  do  not 
know,  but  we  can  confidently  assume.     The  last  particle 


Bjfle  123 

of  his  constitutional  ideal  was  disappearing.  Still  he 
clung  to  France  for  a  few  days.  Danton,  now  all- 
powerful  as  Minister  of  Justice,  had  been  his  colleague 
in  the  Department,  and  seems  to  have  been  not  indif- 
ferent to  him.  Something  might  yet  be  done.  They 
induced  him  to  write  a  defence  of  the  events  of  the 
loth  to  pacify  England.  This  document — which  must 
be  admitted  to  come  from  Talleyrand's  pen — has  been 
gravely  censured.  It  is  certainly  a  desperate  appeal, 
but,  save  for  an  odd  phrase  that  is  diplomatically  exag- 
gerated, is  not  indefensible.  We  can  well  imagine 
what  the  French  papers  in  London  were  making  of  the 
loth.  Talleyrand,  in  the  name  of  the  new  executive 
(bound  to  defend  its  supporters),  put  the  other  side  of 
the  matter.  He  strongly,  but  justly,  criticises  the 
conduct  of  the  royal  family,  as  being  seriously  provoca- 
tive. The  only  downright  injustice  is  when  he  speaks 
of  the  Swiss  guards  as  the  "  cowardly  satellites  "  of  the 
monarchy.  Lady  Blennerhassett  thinks  this  unpardon- 
able. It  is  certainly  a  harsh  phrase  to  write  over  men 
who  died  a  brave  and  noble  death,  but  the  truth  is  that 
many  of  them  were  encouraging  the  crowd  to  advance 
when  the  others  (unknown  to  them  very  probably) 
began  their  deadly  fire. 

Lady  Blennerhassett  sees  a  grave  inconsistency, 
inspired  by  a  base  motive,  in  Talleyrand's  protesting 
against  the  affair  of  June  20th,  and  then  condoning  the 
worse  attack  of  August  loth  and  siding  with  the 
Jacobins.     We    must   remember   that  many  things   had 


124  'C:aUe^ran& 

happened  since  July  13th.  Hostile  armies  hung 
threateningly  on  the  frontier  ;  one  must  take  desperate 
measures  now  to  secure  the  continued  neutrality  of 
England.  Further,  on  July  13th  it  was  not  at  all 
certain  that  the  Jacobins  could  not  be  checked  ;  it  was 
now  clear  that  one  must  work  with  them  or  through 
them,  or  desert  the  country  to  its  fate,  for  no  human 
judgment,  not  patriotically  intoxicated,  could  see  how 
Prussia,  Austria  and  Brunswick  were  to  be  held  off. 
It  is  a  sheer  perversion  of  history  to  say  that  Talleyrand 
deserted  the  King  after  August  loth.  He  had  deserted 
his  cause  long  ago  ;  his  person,  his  life  and  liberty, 
Talleyrand  never  willingly  saw  endangered  ;  nor  did 
he  ever  cease  to  be  a  partisan  of  limited  monarchy. 
It  is,  indeed,  a  question  if  the  events  of  August  loth 
did  not  put  the  royalist  cause  in  a  more  hopeful  plight. 
Certainly  the  royalists  thought  so.  These  events 
doubled  the  pace  of  the  armies  that  were  heading 
towards  Paris.  Finally,  it  is  quite  impossible  to  see 
that  Talleyrand  expected  any  advantage  out  of  the 
new  administration. 

Briefly,  then,  Talleyrand  was  perfectly  consistent  in 
writing  the  official  "explanation"  of  August  loth.  One 
would  imagine  from  some  of  the  references  to  it  that  it 
was  a  blatantly  patriotic  boast  of  the  afi^air  ;  one  need 
only  recollect  that  it  was  written  by  an  astute  diplomatist 
to  a  well-informed  country,  and  for  a  strictly  conciliatory 
purpose.  It  merely  pointed  out  the  extenuating  features 
of  the  "terrible  events"  with  diplomatic  casuistry.     We 


must  not  judge  Talleyrand  as  if  he  had  ever  believed  in 
the  divine  right  of  Kings.  Nor  had  he  any  particular 
grounds  of  personal  loyalty  to  King  or  Queen  ;  nor  can 
he  be  accused  of  untruth  in  laying  on  the  royalist  cause 
the  burden  of  the  Austrian  and  Prussian  invasions. 

But  Lady  Blennerhassett  is  herself  unpardonable 
when  she  says  Talleyrand's  destiny  "  dragged  him  deeper 
still,  into  the  bloody  torrent  of  the  September  massacres." 
This  is  a  most  unhappy  way  of  expressing  the  fact  that 
Talleyrand  was  a  disgusted  spectator  of  those  awful 
scenes,  and  that  he  fled  the  country  as  soon  as  they 
happened.  We  lose  sight  of  him  from  August  i8th, 
when  he  penned  the  diplomatic  defence  of  Danton,  until 
September  14th.  On  that  day  Barrere  finds  him  leaving 
Danton's  room  in  travelling  dress  with  a  passport  for 
London.*  Danton  had  sent  his  friend  Noel  to  London 
to  supersede  Chauvelin  and  keep  England  neutral.  At 
the  beginning  of  September  Noel  had  written  to  say  that 
negotiations  seemed  possible  (August  loth  had  evidently 
not  been  regarded  as  inexcusable  at  London),  and  Danton 
had  thought  the  conditions  suggested  were  not  inaccept- 
able.  Meantime,  the  hostile  forces  were  converging 
successfully  on  Paris.  On  August  29th  comes  terrible 
news  of  Prussians,  Austrians  and  Brunswick,  and  of  the 
rising  in  La  Vendue.  There  are  not  weapons,  when 
even  women  offer  to  bear  them.  Danton  gets  an  order 
for  a  visitation  of  suspected  houses  and   incarceration  of 

*  But  the  passport  is  dated  the  7th,  and  we  know  of  a  still  earlier 
application  to  leave. 


126  TTallev^rant) 

suspects.  Royalists  are  leading  every  invading  army. 
Paris  is  in  the  last  stage  of  the  new  "  intoxication." 
The  awful  story  of  the  first  week  of  September  has  been 
told  often  enough.  By  Thursday  evening  Talleyrand 
would  hear  that  more  than  a  thousand  men  and  women, 
mostly  innocent,  had  been  savagely  murdered.  The 
next  day  he  obtained  from  Danton  a  passport  :  "  Leave 
to  pass  to  Citizen  Talleyrand,  going  to  London  by  our 
order." 

The  last  phase  of  the  movement  he  had  followed 
since  May  6th,  1789,  was  too  repulsive.  He  could 
say  no  longer  that  "provided  he  remained  French,  he 
was  prepared  for  anything."  He  was  not  prepared  for 
murder.  His  one  thought  was  to  leave  France.  On 
the  pretext  of  a  mission  to  persuade  England  to  adopt 
the  metrical  system  he  received  permission  to  leave. 
Research  in  the  archives  of  the  Foreign  Office  has 
brought  to  light  (says  M.  Pallain)  a  letter  in  which 
Talleyrand  asks  permission  to  return  and  continue  his 
work  in  London  before  the  end  of  August,  when  the 
guillotine  had  already  begun  its  work.  He  did  not, 
therefore  wait  until  there  was  personal  danger  before 
he  fled.  He  did  not  cling  to  ruling  powers  until  their 
long  lists  were  drawn  up.  However,  he  would  probably 
have  less  difficulty  than  is  supposed  in  securing  per- 
mission to  leave  from  Danton.  It  was  more  than 
ever  imperative  to  have  an  able  man  in  London.  The 
British  Ambassador,  like  all  others,  had  fled  from  Paris. 
Noel   had  to  face  a  storm   of  indignation  in   England. 


lEjile  127 

Danton  would,  one  imagines,  see  no  more  useful  man 
in  the  emergency  than  Talleyrand.  However  that  may 
be,  he  left  Paris  on  September  14th,  not  to  return 
until  the  long  story  ot  the  reign  of  violence  was  over. 
His  "real  aim"  was,  he  says,  to  get  away  from  France  ; 
but  he  applied  for  a  passport  so  as  not  to  close  the 
door  behind  him  in  the  event  of  his  wishing  to  return. 

He  arrived  in  England  on  the  23rd,  only  to  find, 
as  he  expected,  his  whole  diplomatic  work  in  sad  danger. 
He  announced  his  arrival  to  the  Foreign  Office,  denying 
that  he  had  any  mission,  but  expressing  his  readiness 
to  give  information.  He  was  not  invited  to  give  any. 
A  good  deal  has  been  written  on  the  question  whether 
he  had  a  mission  or  no,  but  the  solution  is  hardly 
obscure  when  all  the  evidence  is  read.  While  denying 
in  England  (and  even  in  a  letter  to  Danton)  that  he 
had  any  mission,  he  told  several  correspondents  that 
he  had,  and  in  his  later  petition  from  America  he  claimed 
that  he  was  enjoined  to  prevent  a  rupture  between 
England  and  France.  The  conflict  of  evidence  is 
easily  reconciled  if  we  suppose  he  had  an  informal, 
secret  understanding  to  that  effect  with  Danton.  It 
is  the  most  likely  thing  to  happen  in  the  circumstances. 
In  any  case  he  had  not  long  to  continue  his  delicate 
task.  The  Opposition  in  England  was  prepared  to 
support  him  to  very  great  lengths,  even  after  the 
triumphant  Jacobins  at  Paris  had  decreed  a  war  of 
revolutionary  propaganda.  Talleyrand  always  regarded 
this   as  a  fatal  step,  and   he   even   now  wrote  to   Paris 


128  X^aUe\)ran^ 

to  counteract  the  feeling.  The  very  able  memorandum 
"  On  the  actual  relations  of  France  to  the  other  States 
of  Europe,"  which  he  forwarded  to  Lebrun,  now  Chief 
Minister,  and  to  several  members  of  the  Convention, 
has  been  published  by  Pallain.  It  is  a  finely-written 
and  sober  political  document.  To  the  new  idea  of 
French  dominance  he  replies  that  "  the  only  useful  and 
reasonable  dominance,  the  only  one  that  becomes  free 
and  enlightened  men,  is  to  be  master  of  one's  self, 
and  never  to  make  the  ridiculous  pretention  to  domineer 
over  others."  It  is  time  that  a  mature  France  had 
done  with  illusions.  An  understanding  with  free 
nations,  for  peaceful,  commercial  purposes,  should  be 
the  ideal.  Wars  of  aggrandisement  should  be  con- 
demned. It  is  a  very  sincere  and  admirable  political 
gospel. 

By  a  curious  chance  it  must  have  reached  Paris* 
just  before  the  Convention  began  to  discuss  the  question 
of  putting  its  author  on  the  list  of  emigrants,  forbidden 
to  return  under  pain  of  death.  A  letter  had  been  found 
amongst  the  King's  papers,  in  which  Laporte,  the  King's 
steward,  had  reported  (in  April,  1791)  that  Talleyrand 
was  anxious  to  serve  him.  On  the  strength  of  this  letter 
condemnation  was  passed  on  December  5th,  and 
Talleyrand  was  made  an  exile.  A  letter,  signed  D. 
(probably  from  des  Renaudes,  but  possibly  Danton),  was 

*  Lady  Blennerhassett  makes  it  precede  the  Jacobin  propagandist 
decrees,  and  so  not  only  robs  it  of  half  its  credit,  but  finds  it  in  a 
ridiculous  predicament.  She  dates  the  memorandum  November  2nd.  It 
is  really  dated  the  25th. 


lEicilc  129 

inserted  in  the  Moniteur  in  defence  ot  Talleyrand.  It 
appealed  to  the  minister  Lebrun,  and  others  to  whom 
Talleyrand  had  sent  his  patriotic  memorandum  a  few 
days  before,  to  produce  this  proof  of  his  loyalty. 
Talleyrand  himself  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Gazette  in  which 
he  flatly  denied  that  he  had  any  relations  whatever  with 
the  King  or  Laporte.  He  claimed  that  the  only  particle 
of  truth  on  which  one  could  make  such  a  statement  was 
that  he  had  written  a  report  in  defence  of  freedom  of 
worship  (which  we  have  considered,  dated  May  7th, 
1 791),  in  which  he  upheld  the  King's  right  to  the 
ministration  of  a  non-juring  priest.  Laporte,  he  said, 
must  have  seen  this  memorandum  as  it  circulated 
privately — as  so  many  speeches  did — before  May  7th, 
and  interpreted  it  to  mean  that  Talleyrand  favoured 
the  King.  It  is  likely  enough,  and  at  all  events  we  have 
no  further  evidence.  But  the  defence  was  of  no  avail. 
Talleyrand  remained  on  the  proscribed  list  for  three 
years. 

It  is  not  probable  that  Talleyrand  would  have 
ventured  again  to  live  at  Paris  during  those  years.  He 
rjoas  an  aristocrat,  even  if  he  clothed  himself  from  head 
to  foot  in  tricolour.  He  was  a  man  of  refined  and 
humane  temper,  and  could  not  possibly  have  co-operated 
further  with  the  sanguinary  parties  that  now  came  to 
power.  At  the  most  he  would  wish  to  retain  a  distant 
connection  in  the  event  of  an  improvement  in  the 
condition  of  Paris.  A  few  days  after  reaching  London, 
in  accepting  an  invitation  to  Bowood,  he  wrote  to  Lord 

9 


I30  ^aUe^rau^ 

Lansdowne  that  "  when  one  has  passed  the  last  two 
months  at  Paris  one  needs  to  come  and  refresh  oneself 
with  the  conversation  of  superior  people."  Then  came 
news  of  the  impeachment  and  trial  of  the  King. 
London  listened  with  growing  horror  and  disgust  to  the 
details  of  the  "trial."  On  January  2ist  Louis  was 
guillotined.  On  January  24th  the  late  French  ambassador, 
Chauvelin,  the  only  official-looking  Frenchman  the 
Government  could  find,  was  swept  out  of  England.  On 
February  ist  the  Convention  declared  war  against 
England  and  Holland  (the  one  entanglement  that  endan- 
gered England's  neutrality).  Talleyrand  found  the  door 
which  he  had  so  cleverly  contrived  to  leave  open 
violently  slammed  upon  him. 

He  says  in  the  memoirs  that  he  did  not  intend 
to  stay  long  in  England.  In  fact,  we  know  now 
that  he  applied  about  this  time  for  permission  to  settle 
in  Tuscany,  but  the  Grand  Duke  had  to  refuse  on  the 
ground  of  his  neutrality.  The  position  must  have  been 
trying  for  a  man  of  Talleyrand's  taste  and  ambition.  If 
we  may  trust  his  later  observations,  his  mind  wandered 
unsteadily  from  one  country  to  another  and  one  occu- 
pation to  another.  He  settled  down,  however,  to  the 
life  of  an  emigrant  in  London,  and  managed  to  spend  a 
year  not  unpleasantly.  His  library  had  been  transferred 
to  London,*  and  he  spent  his  mornings  in  writing.     He 

*  Fortunately  for  him,  as  it  now  proved  iiis  only  resource  outside  of 
France.  His  fine  collection  passed  under  the  hammer  at  Sotheby's.in 
April  (1793).  The  sale  lasted  ten  days  and  realised  more  than  £2,000. 
Talleyrand  puts  it  at  £700,  but  I  have  seen  a  catalogue  with  the  prices 


does  not  tell  us  the  subject,  but  says  that  when  he  had 
returned  to  France  a  huge  mass  of  his  notes  and 
memoranda  came  over  from  London.  He  would  have 
us  believe  that  they  proved  of  little  use  for  the  writing 
of  his  memoirs,  but  the  chapter  on  the  Due  d'Orleans 
is  so  ample  and  circumstantial  that  it  seems  to  have  been 
written  at  an  early  date,  and  was  not  improbably  written 
in  1793.  It  affords  a  thorough  reply  to  the  rumours,  for 
which  no  documentary  ground  has  ever  been  discovered 
by  his  most  bitter  enemies,  that  he  was  secretly  working 
with  the  Orleanist  group.  He  did  not  frequent  the 
Palais  Royal  in  a  political  capacity. 

But  in  spite  of  emigrant  hatred  and  the  general 
British  hostility  to  France,  he  found  a  sufficiently  large 
social  circle  in  London.  Mme.  de  Genlis  had  come 
to  England  with  her  niece.  Talleyrand  offered  her  a 
little  money  out  of  his  small  fund,  and  actually  did  assist 
other  compatriots.  Many  of  them  were,  as  is  known, 
living  in  bitter  poverty.  Mme.  de  Stad  came  over  in 
January  and  remained  until  the  summer.  She  took  a 
house  near  Richmond,  and  Talleyrand  spent  a  good  deal 
of  his  time  there.  In  Kensington  the  Countess  de  la 
Chatre  kept  a  house,  where  many  of  Talleyrand's  old 
friends  met.  Narbonne  had  with  difficulty  got  away — 
with  the  assistance  of  Mme.  de  Stael  and  Talleyrand — at 

filled  in.  Another  somewhat  mysterious  sale  of  a  French  diplomatist's 
library  took  place  at  Sotheby's  in  1S16,  realising  £S,ooo.  The  King's 
librarian  describes  this  collection  also  as  having  belonged  to  Talleyrand, 
and  in  that  case  the  earlier  sale  would  not  represent  his  whole  librai-j  , 
But  we  shall  see  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  trace  the  second  sale  to 
Talleyrand. 


132  xralte^ran& 

the  beginning  of  September.  Rivarol  and  Lalley- 
Tollendal  and  many  other  constitutionalists  were  there. 
Fox  and  Sheridan  and  their  friends  afforded  a  fairly 
large  circle  of  English  acquaintances.  Lord  Lansdowne 
continued  friendly  long  after  he  left  England.  At  his 
house  Talleyrand  speaks  of  frequently  meeting  Hastings, 
Price,  Priestly,  Romilly,  and  Jeremy  Bentham.  His 
reputation  for  culture  and  conversation  opened  many 
doors.  Sydney  Smith  was  brought  in  contact  with 
him  somewhere,  and  says  that  he  found  him  unequal  to 
his  reputation  ;  but  one  imagines  that  Sydney  Smith 
would  not  be  unbiassed,  and  he  admits  he  could  not 
understand  his  French.  The  German  physician, 
Bollmann,  found  him  so  charming  that  he  "could  listen 
to  him  for  years."  On  the  whole,  Talleyrand  fared 
better  than  most  of  his  indigent  companions,  though  the 
enforced  idleness  annoyed  him.  "  Patience  and  sleep," 
he  told  Mme.  de  Stael,  was  his  programme  for  the 
present.  In  another  letter  he  described  his  chief  occu- 
pations as  "  fishing  and  correcting  proofs  "  (of  Mme. 
de  Flahaut's  novel). 

It  is  from  the  letters  he  wrote  to  Mme.  de  Stael 
after  her  return  to  France  that  we  find  he  is  still 
watching  the  situation  in  that  country  without  despair. 
In  one  letter  he  sketches  a  plan.  The  southern 
provinces,  which  still  show  some  attachment  to  the 
constitution,  should  unite,  and  invite  the  members  of 
the  old  Constituent  Assembly  to  meet  at  Toulon.  He 
believes     that     the     nation     is    still     attached     to     the 


BH 

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From  an  aigrazing,  after  the  picture  by  F.  Gerard. 
MADAME   DE  STARL. 


[p.  132. 


Ejile  133 

constitution,  and  that  it  is  really  in  the  supposed  defence 
of  this  that  they  have  risen  against  King  and  invaders. 
"When  he  hears  of  the  execution  of  the  Queen  he  has  to 
modify  his  view.  "  It  is  all  over  with  the  house  of 
Bourbon  in  France,"  he  says ;  but  he  never  believed  that 
France  would  remain  permanently  republican.  His 
wistful  speculations,  which  were  equally  resented  by 
republicans  in  France  and  royalists  out  of  it  (who 
charged  the  constitutionalists  with  bringing  all  his 
misfortunes  on  the  King),  were  cut  short  at  the 
beginning  of  1794  by  a  peremptory  order  to  quit 
England  within  five  days  (in  another  place  Talleyrand 
says  twenty-four  hours). 

The  order  was  inexcusable,  but  no  influence  that 
Talleyrand  could  command  had  any  effect  on  it.  A  law 
had  been  passed  twelve  months  before  empowering  the 
Government  to  expel  undesirable  aliens,  and  it  had  been 
applied  to  Noel  and  Chauvelin.  Talleyrand  may  have 
feared  its  extension  to  him  at  first,  when  he  applied  for 
residence  in  Tuscany,  but  he  was  not  prepared  for  this 
cruel  application  after  twelve  months  of  peaceful  life  in 
London.  He  pressed  his  most  influential  friends  to 
obtain  some  explanation,  at  least,  of  the  order,  but  none 
was  given.  In  the  end,  he  attributed  it  to  intrigues  of 
his  emigrant  enemies,  and  one  can  see  no  other  reason 
for  it.  He  was  the  only  distinguished  Frenchman  of 
moderate  views  to  incur  the  order.  Sainte-Beuve  says 
it  "proves  he  was  not  in  the  odour  of  virtue."  It,  at 
all   events,    proved,   if  this   needed   proof,   that   he   had 


134  X^aUe\?ran^ 

enemies.  He  protested  to  Pitt  and  to  the  King, 
but  it  was  no  use,  and  he  took  ship  for  America  on 
February  3rd.  His  letters  to  Lord  Lansdowne  and 
Mme.  de  Stad  show  a  very  natural  bitterness  of  feeling, 
but  even  at  this  time  he  hardly  blamed  England.  But 
when  the  ship  was  detained  at  Greenwich  he  refused  an 
invitation  from  Dundas  to  spend  the  time  at  his  house, 
saying  that  he  could  not  set  foot  on  English  soil  again 
after  receiving  such  an  order. 

The  romantic  biographers  have  enlivened  his  voyage 
with  adventures.  They  tell  how  the  Dutch  vessel  in 
which  he  sailed  was  stopped  and  searched  by  an  English 
frigate,  and  Talleyrand  dressed  himself  in  the  cook's 
clothes  to  pass  the  scrutiny.  M.  Michaud,  as  usual, 
does  not  deign  to  mention  his  authority.  Talleyrand 
only  says  that  the  ship  was  beaten  back  by  heavy  storms, 
and  seemed  at  one  time  in  danger  of  being  driven  on 
the  French  coast.  It  did  put  in  at  Falmouth  for  repairs, 
and  Talleyrand  landed  there,  so  that  his  objection  to 
English  soil  was  relaxing.  He  was  told  that  an  American 
general  was  staying  at  an  inn  in  the  town,  and  he  found 
that  it  was  General  Arnold,  who  would  hardly  give  him 
an  attractive  picture  of  his  future  home.  Whether  it 
was  from  this  conversation,  or  from  a  real  weariness  of 
spirit  (or,  in  fine,  a  freak  of  memory  in  later  years),  he 
says  that  he  did  not  want  to  leave  ship  when  they 
reached  Philadelphia.  Another  ship  was  sailing  out  as 
they  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Delaware,  and  he  sent  a 
boat  to  learn  its  destination.      It  was  going  to  Calcutta, 


and  he  wanted,  he  says,  to  take  a  berth  in  it,  but 
could  not  get  one.  He  landed  at  Philadelphia  with  his 
companions,  M.  de  Beaumetz  and  des  Renaudes, 
towards  the  end  of  March. 

A  number  of  acquaintances  had  preceded  him  to 
America.  When  the  emigration  began  people  recollected 
the  lively  stories  brought  back  by  Lafayette  and  his 
companions,  and  many  who  either  had  wealth  or  wanted 
to  make  it  sailed  to  the  States.  At  Philadelphia, 
Talleyrand  found  a  Dutchman  named  Casenove,  whom 
he  had  known  at  Paris,  and  who  now  proved  useful 
to  him.  There  were  half-a-dozen  emigrants  in 
Philadelphia,  and  they  met  at  nights  over  gay  but 
frugal  suppers,  at  the  house  of  Moreau-Saint-Mery,  who 
had  opened  a  book-store  there.  Michaud  says  Talley- 
rand opened  a  store  for  the  sale  of  night-caps ;  the 
legend  probably  grew  out  of  a  curious  custom  of 
Talleyrand's  of  wearing  several  of  these  at  night.  But 
Talleyrand  was  evidently  very  restless  and  irritated. 
Washington  declined  to  grant  him  a  formal  interview, 
and  Talleyrand  refused,  as  he  says,  to  go  to  see  him 
by  the  back  door.  The  only  man  whose  friendship 
relieved  the  depression  of  that  time  was  Colonel 
Alexander  Hamilton,  whom  Talleyrand  describes  as 
the  ablest  statesman  then  living,  not  excepting  Pitt  and 
Fox.  They  had  long  conversations  on  political  and 
economic  subjects,  and  were  happily  agreed  on  most 
matters;  though  Hamilton  was  a  moderate  Protectionist 
and  Talleyrand  a  strong  Free-trader. 


136  ITalle^iant) 

Talleyrand  sought  some  relief  by  a  voyage  into 
the  interior  with  Beaumetz  and  a  Dutch  friend, 
Heydecooper.  He  was  not  insensible  to  the  natural 
beauty  of  the  forests  and  prairies,  which  he  describes 
with  unusual  literary  care,  but  he  was  chiefly  impressed 
with  the  vast  possibilities  of  these  leagues  of  unculti- 
vated territory.  Within  a  few  miles  of  every  sea-coast 
town  you  plunged  into  virgin  forests,  and  from  the 
hill-tops  you  looked  over  illimitable  oceans  of  wild 
growth.  A  thoughtful  traveller  like  Talleyrand  could 
not  but  speculate  on  the  future  of  the  country.  Con- 
vinced as  he  was  of  the  primary  importance  of  agri- 
culture, the  future  of  America  had  a  peculiar  interest 
for  him.  But  as  he  wandered  from  town  to  town,  and 
saw  more  of  the  people,  he  felt  some  disappointment 
in  them.  The  idealist  fervour  which  he  expected  to 
find  still  glowing,  within  a  few  years  of  the  declaration 
of  independence,  seemed  to  be  wholly  extinct.  In  fact, 
if  Talleyrand  had  been  able  to  anticipate  that  elegant 
phrase,  he  would  have  said  "making  their  pile"  was  the 
chief  preoccupation  of  the  Americans  of  1794.  Without 
bitterness,  but  with  something  like  sadness,  he  tells  a 
number  of  stories  about  his  experience.  He  met  a 
fairly  rich  man  in  one  town  who  had  never  been  to 
Philadelphia.  He  would  like  to  see  Washington,  the 
man  assented  to  Talleyrand's  inquiry,  but  he  would  very 
much  rather  see  Bingham,  who  was  reported  to  be  very 
wealthy.  At  another  place  he  noticed  that  his  host 
put  his  hat — a  hat  that  a  Parisian  stable-boy  would  not 


lErilc  137 

wear,  he  says — on  a  beautiful  table  of  Sevres  porcelain 
brought  from  the  Trianon.  When  Talleyrand  speaks 
impatiently  of  America  as  "a  country  without  a  past," 
he  is  thinking  of  these  incongruities  ;  there  had  not 
yet  been  time  in  the  history  of  America  for  the  fixing 
of  inviolable  canons.  In  some  other  respects  the 
features  of  life  in  this  new  country  were  amusing.  In 
a  log  cabin  on  the  Ohio  they  found  some  good  bronzes 
and  a  fine  piano.  When  Beaumetz  opened  it,  however, 
the  owner  had  to  ask  him  to  spare  them  ;  the  nearest 
tuner  lived  a  hundred  miles  away,  and  had  not  called 
that  year. 

Talleyrand  makes  it  clear  that  he  understands  how 
these  features  of  American  life  are  inseparable  from  its 
newness  and  its  pioneering  character,  but  he  feels  the 
discord  too  keenly  to  enjoy  it  on  its  adventurous  and 
picturesque  sides.  "  If  I  have  to  stay  here  another  year 
I  shall  die,"  he  wrote  to  Mme.  de  Stael.  He  appreciates 
the  sincerity  of  their  religious  life  after  that  of  pre- 
Revolutionary  Paris,  but  a  country  of  thirty  -  two 
religions  and  only  one  sauce  does  not  suit  him.  He 
wrote  a  long  letter  to  Lord  Lansdowne  (February  ist, 
1795),  '^^^^  ^he  view  of  bringing  about  a  better 
understanding  between  England  and  America.  The 
independence  of  the  States  is  settled  for  ever,  he 
says ;  there  is  no  question  whatever  of  a  reversion 
to  the  status  of  a  British  colony.  Nevertheless, 
though  feeling  is  at  present  averted  from  England 
and    turning    towards     France,    the    link    between    the 


138  Uallc^ranb 

two  nations  is  strong  and  natural.  All  the  institu- 
tions of  America  and  all  its  economic  features  (which 
he  discusses  at  great  length)  compel  it  to  look  in 
friendly  interest  to  England.  In  June  and  July  he 
sent  other  brief  notes  to  Lord  Lansdowne.  In  June, 
moreover,  he  heard  of  the  rout  of  the  Jacobins  at  Paris. 
In  the  memoirs  he  affirms  (and  the  most  indulgent 
admiration  fails  to  ascribe  this  to  a  freak  of  memory)  that 
the  National  Convention  rescinded  the  decree  against 
him  "  without  any  request  on  my  part."  We  have  a 
copy  of  the  petition  he  wrote  to  the  Convention  on 
June  1 6th,  pressing  for  the  removal  of  his  name  from 
the  proscribed  list.  He  urges  that  the  reasons  for 
putting  him  on  the  list  were  frivolous,  but  he  had  not 
been  able  to  return  to  Paris  to  contest  them,  because 
"  under  the  tyranny  of  Robespierre"  the  prisons  were 
violated,  and  he  would  be  executed  without  trial.  It  is 
probably  about  the  same  time  that  he  wrote  to  Mme. 
de  Stael,  who  quotes  his  words  in  a  later  letter  to  him. 

Whether  Talleyrand  despaired  of  obtaining  per- 
mission to  return  he  does  not  say,  but  he  tells  us  that 
in  the  autumn  of  1795  ^^  ^"^^  ^^^  friend  Beaumetz 
invested  their  small  capital  in  stocking  a  ship  for 
the  East  Indies.  They  had  seen  the  first  American 
adventurers  return  from  India  in  1794  with  rich 
spoils,  and  seem  to  have  caught  the  Indian  fever  that 
then  broke  out  in  America.  They  were  joined  by 
a  number  of  Philadelphia  firms,  and  their  ship  was 
about    to    start    when    the    Fates    intervened.        How 


the  biography  of  Talleyrand  would  have  run  if  this 
adventure  had  been  permitted  it  is  difficult  to  conjecture. 
In  fact,  the  whole  story  has  a  most  undeniable  odour 
of  legend  about  it,  but,  apart  from  a  few  details  (such 
as  that  of  Beaumetz  attempting  to  murder  him  in 
New  York)  which  the  romanticists  add  on  their  own 
authority,  it  is  Talleyrand  himself  who  tells  it,  in  the 
memoirs.  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  this  puts  it 
beyond  dispute,  but  probably  we  should  admit  it,  and 
see  in  it  a  proof  of  the  most  unusually  restless  and 
irritated  temper  he  had  fallen  into  in  America.  How- 
ever, his  petition  had  succeeded  at  Paris.  Mme.  de  Stad, 
who  was  sincerely  devoted  to  him,  induced  Legendre 
and  Boissy  d'Anglas  to  favour  the  petition.  It  was 
presented  to  the  Convention  on  September  4th,  and 
supported  by  M.  J.  Chenier  and  the  ex-Oratorian, 
Daunou.  Talleyrand's  name  was  erased  from  the  list  of 
emigres,  and  he  was  described  as  an  unappreciated 
patriot.  He  had  struck  the  right  note  in  alluding  to 
"the  tyranny  of  Robespierre."  The  various  sections 
of  the  Terrorists  had  annihilated  each  other  in  mutual 
distrust ;  and  more  peaceful,  if  not  quite  more  admirable, 
elements  had  come  to  power.  In  the  summer  of  1795 
the  Jacobin  Club  was  closed,  and  the  once  terrible 
name  was  now  laughingly  hurled  at  one  as  "  Jacoquin." 
Sanculottist  Paris  had  risen  in  insurrection  twice,  and 
had  twice  been  chased  back  into  its  slums.  Chenier  had 
only  to  describe  Talleyrand  as  a  victim  of  the  persecu- 
tions of  Marat   and  Robespierre,  and   "  the   perfidy  of 


Pitt,"  and  one  whose  "  noble  conduct  as  a  priest  and 
man  had  greatly  promoted  the  Revolution,"  and  his 
name  was  struck  off  the  black  list.  He  let  Beaumetz 
sail  alone  for  India,  bade  farewell  to  Hamilton  and 
la  Rouchefoucauld  and  his  many  friends  in  the  States, 
and  sailed  for  Europe  in  a  Danish  vessel  in  November. 
He  had  not  been  thirty  (as  he  says),  but  twenty,  months 
in  America.      It  had  seemed  longer.* 

*  I  have  referred  already  to  a  legend  assigning  his  birth  to  America. 
The  only  foundation  for  this  is  that  he  visited  Mount  Desert,  and,  as  he 
limped  about,  reminded  the  older  inhabitants  of  a  lame  boy,  born  there  of 
a  French  officer  and  American  girl  in  1754,  and  afterwards  taken  to  France. 
In  spite  of  the  fact  that  Talleyrand's  father  was  a  distinguished  noble  of 
high  character  attached  to  Versailles  ;  that  the  father's  wife,  daughter  of 
the  Marquis  d'Antigny,  acknowledged  Charles  Maurice  to  her  death  in 
1809,  and  was  supported  by  him  in  her  later  years  ;  that  the  interest  in 
him  of  his  great-grandmother,  his  uncle,  and  every  member  and  friend  of 
the  family  was  known  to  all  France  ;  this  legend  has  been  put  forward  in 
America  (Bookman,  September  26th,  1901)  as  worthy  of  serious  con- 
sideration. There  is  hardly  another  character  in  recent  historj  about 
whom  myths  have  been  so  blindlj'  entertained. 


CHAPTER    VIII 


THE    REGENERATED    PARIS 


The  ship  in  which  Talleyrand  had  sailed  from  America 
was  bound  for  Hamburg,  which  it  reached  in  January, 
1796.  The  prudent  diplomatist  wanted  to  take  a 
nearer  look  at  the  regenerated  capital  of  his  country 
before  re-entering  it.  His  discretion  was  timely.  In 
October  the  mob  had  risen  for  a  third  time  against 
the  new  authority,  and  Citizen  Buonaparte  had  swept 
it  back  definitively  into  powerlessness  in  the  space  of 
two  hours.  But  the  new  rulers  had  a  strong  family 
resem.blance  to  the  old.  The  five  Directors  had  to  be 
regicides  ;  Sieyes,  who  had  voted  for  "  death  without 
any  fuss  "  on  poor  Louis,  had  made  this  new  constitu- 
tion. In  the  two  new  Chambers,  the  Council  of  the 
Five  Hundred  and  the  Council  of  Ancients,  a  two- 
thirds  majority  was  to  be  taken  over  from  the  dissolving 
Convention.  One-third  had  to  be  elected  by  the 
country,  now  returning  to  sobriety  ;  but  until  the  old 
majority  should  be  broken  by  the  retirement  and 
re-election  of  a  fresh  third  in  May  the  situation  was 
not  reassuring.  There  remained  a  good  deal  of  bitter- 
ness   against     emigrant    aristocrats    and    their    friends. 

141 


142  XTaUevrant) 

Mme.  de  Stael  was  herself  attacked  with  some  virulence, 
and  had  to  leave  the  country.  Talleyrand  decided  to 
remain  for  the  present  at  Hamburg. 

There  was  a  lively  and  interesting  company  at  that 
time  at  Hamburg,  and  Talleyrand  met  many  old  friends. 
He  tells  us  in  the  memoirs,  with  that  tinge  of  malice 
that  at  times  borders  on  ill-nature,  that  Madame  de 
Flahaut,  who  was  there,  sent  out  a  note  to  the  ship 
before  he  landed,  asking  him  to  return  to  America. 
Her  husband,  Count  Flahaut,  had  been  guillotined 
during  the  Revolution,  and  his  widow  had  met  at 
Hamburg,  and  was  about  to  marry,  the  Portuguese 
Minister,  the  Marquis  de  Souza.  She  felt  that  the 
presence  of  Talleyrand  might  lead  to  embarrassment. 
But  Talleyrand  was  not  heroic  enough  to  face  the  ocean 
and  America  again  in  her  matrimonial  service.  Another 
interesting  friend  he  found  at  Hamburg  was  Mme.  de 
Genlis.  He  found  so  little  change  in  her  that,  uncon- 
scious of  its  application  to  others,  he  is  tempted  to  pen 
an  aphorism  :  "  The  fixity  of  compound  natures  is  due 
to  their  suppleness."  His  former  Secretary  of  Embassy 
at  London,  and  later  friend  and  colleague,  Reinhard, 
was  there,  and  they  increased  their  attachment  during 
those  months  of  waiting.  His  former  chief,  General 
Dumouriez,  had  fled  there.  Besides  the  French  emi- 
grants of  all  parties,  there  was  also  a  group  of  Irish 
rebels,  led  by  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald.  Apart  from 
the  anxiety  and  inactivity,  the  time  would  pass 
pleasantly. 


trbc  1Rcoencrate^  parts  143 

In  May  the  elections  for  the  Chambers  strengthened 
the  moderate  element  at  Paris,  and  it  became  once 
more  habitable.  But  Talleyrand  took  his  time  in 
returning.  From  Hamburg  he  went  in  the  summer 
to  Amsterdam,  and  in  a  fortnight  passed  on  to  Brussels, 
where  he  remained  for  a  month  or  two.  The  story  of 
his  going  to  Berlin  for  three  months  on  a  secret  mission 
seems  to  be  apocryphal.  In  September  he  re-entered 
Paris. 

We  are  left  to  imagine  the  feelings  with  which  he 
contemplated  the  regenerated  capital  of  the  Republic. 
He  had  last  lived  there  in  1792,  when  equality  and 
fraternity  were  expressing  themselves  with  such  ungrace- 
ful logic.  The  Revolution  was  now  spent.  Equality 
and  fraternity  were  forgotten  ;  liberty  was  construed 
in  a  sense  that  made  even  the  liberal  shudder.  The 
Paris  that  had  issued  from  the  womb  of  the  Revolution, 
with  such  fangs  as  of  a  giant  offspring,  was  a  grotesque 
abortion.  The  poor  were  as  poor  as  ever,  as  despised 
as  ever,  as  much  preyed  on  by  parasites  as  ever.  But 
the  new  class  that  filled  the  theatres  and  the  larger 
houses  was  insufferable.  An  epidemic  of  speculation  had 
set  in.  Brokers  and  bankers  met  you  at  every  corner, 
and  shrill  females  assailed  you  in  the  streets  with 
bundles  of  notes.  The  paper-money  of  the  successive 
authorities  and  the  confiscation  of  ecclesiastical  and 
emigrant  property  had  led  to  these  spectacles.  Some 
won  the  prizes,  and,  if  they  succeeded  in  carrying  their 
money    beyond  the  "camp  of  Tartars"  at    the    Palais 


144  TTaUei^rant) 

Egalite,  bought  emigrant  hotels  and  entered  "  Society  " 
— a  society  such  as  the  world  has  rarely  seen.  The 
frequent  mention  of  freedom  during  the  last  few  years 
had  led  to  a  study  of  the  life  of  the  "  free  peoples  of 
antiquity,"  which  rested  on  slavery.  Sonorous  Greek 
and  Latin  names  decorated  the  new  generation.  Greek 
and  Roman  garments  hung  about  their  slim  Parisian 
persons.  The  men  got  the  idea  that  the  hetamt  were 
the  chief  feature  of  classic  life  :  and  the  women  thought 
it  was  the  use  of  transparent  dress — though  it  is  grati- 
fying to  learn  that  some  of  them  were  hooted  when  they 
attempted  to  walk  the  Bois  in  this  costume.  Wealthy 
brokers  built  Roman  homes,  not  forgetting  the  fish 
ponds,  for  their  amies.  The  journals  announced  as 
many  divorces  as  marriages.  What  with  war  and 
guillotine  and  pike  the  multiplication  of  patriots  had 
become  urgently  necessary,  and  the  only  qualification 
for  fraternity  was  patriotism  ;  they  had  long  before 
anticipated  Mr.  G.  Bernard  Shaw,  and  proposed  to 
supply  such  as  the  Abbe  Fauchet  with  a  harem  of  twenty 
healthy  ciioyennes.  Actresses  and  adventuresses  and 
ex-nuns  were  fought  for  by  men  who  had  made  fortunes 
on  flour  or  paper-money,  or  emigrant  property,  and 
clothed  with  the  wardrobes  of  dead  princesses,  and 
reopened  the  salons  of  the  old  regime  ;  the  furniture, 
decorations,  and  social  forms  not  a  little  confused.  At 
table  they  ate  and  drank  much,  and  talked  little.  Balls, 
especially  fancy  dress  balls,  were  held  daily,  transparent 
trousers  and  the  light  costume  of  heathen  goddesses  not 


XLbc  1Reoenerate&  pads  145 

being  prohibited  in  an  age  of  liberty.  Churches  and 
convents  had  been  turned  into  restaurants  and  dancing- 
rooms  for  the  most  part. 

When  Chateaubriand  returned  to  Paris  a  few  years 
later  (and  it  had  improved  a  little),  he  said  that  he  felt 
as  if  he  was  going  into  the  mouth  of  hell.  On  different 
grounds  Talleyrand  may  have  said  much  the  same.  His 
moral  ideal  was  taste.  License  without  refinement  he 
felt  to  be  immoral.  He  had,  too,  a  deep  sense  of 
humour  and  of  humanity.  The  one  was  inflamed  at 
every  turn  ;  the  other  was  afflicted  at  the  spectacle 
of  this  pitiful  issue  of  all  the  sacrifices  of  the 
last  six  years.  As  usual,  he  looked  about  for  stray 
consolations,  and  awaited  developments.  At  the  "Con- 
stitutional Club  "  he  met  whatever  liberal,  decent  men 
there  were  left  in  Paris.  He  was,  indeed,  welcomed 
by  the  new  queens  of  the  salons,  as  Lytton  assures  us. 
In  the  revenge  of  time  a  "  grand  seigneur  "  of  the  old 
regime  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  superior  being 
once  more.  A  few  with  titles  and  empty  purses  in 
their  pockets,  were  still  living  at,  or  had  returned  to 
Paris  ;  they  made  excellent  maitres  d' hotel.  Talleyrand, 
with  his  high  reputation  for  wit,  culture  and  laxity, 
was  regarded  as  a  ci-devant  worth  cultivating.  Only 
occasionally,  if  reports  may  be  trusted,  did  he  express 
himself.  One  story  goes  that  a  lady  of  the  transparent 
trousers  order  once  invited  him  to  her  house,  and 
donned  her  classic  garments  for  the  occasion.  On  the 
following  day,   when  she  had  a   numerous  company,  a 

10 


146  Uallei^rant) 

box  arrived  trom  Talleyrand,  containing  "  a  costume  for 
Madame."  She  opened  it  before  her  jealous  friends 
with  great  eagerness.  It  contained  a  fig-leaf.  On  the 
other  hand  Talleyrand  was  made  a  member  of  the 
Institut,  the  founding  of  which  he  had  advocated  in 
1 79 1.  He  read  two  papers  there  with  his  usual  success. 
The  first  dealt  with  the  commercial  relations  of  England 
with  the  United  States  ;  the  second  pointed  out  the 
advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  new  colonies. 
Talleyrand  believed  in  the  virtue  of  colonial  work  for 
the  regeneration  of  an  enfeebled  or  overcrowded  nation. 
He  was,  he  says,  preparing  a  third  paper  on  the 
influence  of  society  in  France,  but  was  dissuaded  from 
giving  it.  He  would  hardly  venture  to  touch  such  a 
subject  at  that  time,  but  it  is  a  pity  he  has  not  left  us 
the  paper. 

With  that  disregard  for  mere  truthfulness  in  small 
matters  which  we  notice  throughout  the  memoirs  (when 
there  is  a  motive),  he  tells  us  that  he  kept  aloof  from 
politics,  and  only  yielded  after  some  refusals  to  the 
solicitations  of  Mme.  de  Stael.  We  know  perfectly  well 
that  he  was  at  the  end  of  his  purse,  and  was,  if  for  no 
other  reason,  compelled  to  seek  public  service.  He 
wrote  to  Mme.  de  Stael  that  he  had  only  the  means  of 
subsistence  for  another  month,  and  he  would  "  blow  his 
brains  out  if  she  did  not  find  him  a  place."  He  had 
then  been  in  Paris  more  than  six  months,  and  saw  no 
opening.  Michaud  says  that  he  had  left  what  little 
money  remained  to   him  (50,000   francs)   in  a  bank  at 


Zbc  IReoenerateb  parts  147 

Hamburg.  Castellane  tells  a  curious  story  of  his  having 
left  his  silver  in  charge  of  a  number  of  market-women 
when  he  left  France,  and  says  that  he  collected  every  bit 
of  it  when  he  returned  in  1796.  But  he  had  now  an 
establishment  to  keep  up.  The  diplomatist  had  been 
smitten  at  last  by  an  unexpected  type  of  woman.  When 
Madame  Grand  first  met  him,  or  first  lived  with  him,  it 
is  quite  impossible  to  determine.  The  more  plausible 
authorities  are  contradictory,  and  the  lady's  career  has 
been  as  thickly  encrusted  with  romance  as  that  of  Talley- 
rand. Her  nationality  is  doubtful.  Her  father  is 
generally  believed  to  have  been  an  Englishman,  though 
some  speak  of  him  as  a  Dutch  sailor,  and  others  as  a 
Breton.  She  was  born  in  India,  and  her  mother  is  said 
to  have  been  a  native.  She  was  married,  when  young, 
to  a  Swiss,  M.  Grand,  but  he  had  divorced  her  when  she 
had  captivated  no  less  a  person  than  Sir  Philip  Francis. 
When  Sir  Philip  returned  to  England,  she  came  to  Paris, 
and  for  some  years  we  trace  her  indistinctly  flitting 
between  Paris,  London  and  Hamburg.  It  may  have 
been  at  Hamburg,  but  her  German  biographer  thinks  it 
was  more  probably  at  Paris,  in  1797,  that  she  met  and 
captured  Talleyrand. 

Three  points  about  her  are  clearly  established.  She 
was  very  beautiful — "  the  beauty  of  two  centuries,"  one 
enthusiast  says — not  at  all  cultured,  and  very  far  from 
puritanical.  Her  lithe,  graceful  figure,  pure  white  fore- 
head, wide-opened,  tender  blue  eyes,  with  long,  dark 
lashes,  and  especially  her  long,  soft,  golden-brown  hair 


148  UaUe^rant) 

— "  the  most  wonderful  hair  in  Europe  " — are  described 
by  contemporaries  with  some  warmth.  The  obvious 
strain  of  Indian  blood  in  her  complexion  and  bearing 
increased  the  charm,  and  her  intellectual  deficiency  was 
not  accentuated  by  any  attempt  to  conceal  it.  She  seems 
to  have  been  devoted  to  her  distinguished  protector,  and 
although  she  later  admitted  a  Spanish  prince  to  a  share 
in  her  affection,  she  always  spoke  of  him  with  great 
admiration.  Talleyrand  must  have  loved  her  in  return. 
It  is  true  that  he  only  married  her  under  compulsion 
from  Napoleon,  but  most  of  his  biographers  quite 
wrongly  suppose  that  he  was,  from  the  ecclesiastical 
point  of  view,  ever  free  to  marry.  They  lived  together, 
affectionately  and  faithfully,  as  far  as  one  can  tell,  until 
— twelve  years  later  —  the  Princess  Talleyrand  was 
infatuated  by  the  Prince  of  Spain.  Talleyrand  explains 
his  choice  of  a  woman  without  culture  on  the  ground 
that  "  a  woman  of  intelligence  often  compromises  her 
husband  ;  without  it,  she  can  only  compromise  herself." 
The  truth  seems  to  be  that  there  was  no  calculation 
whatever  in  the  match.  The  plain  phrase,  he  fell  in  love 
with  her,  accurately  describes  what  happened.  A  man 
of  exceptional  mental  power  often  finds  the  ablest  of  his 
female  contemporaries,  with  their  strain  and  effort  to 
reach  his  level,  impossible  companions  ;  moreover, 
Talleyrand  was  a  deeply  amorous  and  uxorious  man. 
When  friends  had  pointed  out  to  him  that  his  actress- 
friend  at  Saint  Sulpice  was  without  mental  gifts,  he  said 
he  had  not   noticed  it.      Mme.  de  Flahaut — for   whom, 


Fivin  till  ciigiaviisg,  a/ti:f  a  picture  by  /•'.  Gt'tuiii. 
MADAME   TALLEYRAND. 


[p.  148. 


XTbe  1Rcoenerate^  iparis  149 

however,  one  can  only  admit  a  qualified  attachment — 
had  kept  almost  the  only  non-political  house  in  Paris 
before  the   Revolution. 

It  was  now  more  needful  than  ever  to  secure  an 
appointment.*  Mme.  de  Stael  lent  Talleyrand  24,000 
francs,  and  promised  to  use  her  influence  on  the 
Directorate.  Lytton  connects  Talleyrand's  appointment 
with  the  reading  of  his  papers  at  the  Institut.  Two  of 
the  Directors,  Rewbell  and  Reveillere  belonged  to  it, 
and  possibly  heard  his  second  paper  on  July  13th. 
These  were  the  most  decent  members  of  the  group  of 
five  which  then  ruled  France,  and  it  is  natural  that  they 
should  appreciate  Talleyrand's  worth  to  the  country. 
But  Mme.  de  Stael  won  over  the  most  important  of  the 
five,  Barras,  and  induced  him  to  invite  Talleyrand  to 
dine  at  his  house  at  Suresnes.  The  other  four  lived 
with  their  families  in  a  modest  and  respectable  fashion 
under  the  eyes  of  the  people  at  the  Luxembourg. 
Barras,  an  aristocrat  by  birth,  but  coarse,  violent,  and 
sensual,  made  a  good  deal  of  money  by  secret 
commissions,  and  kept  a  lively  establishment  at 
Suresnes,  besides  the  apartments  at  the  Luxembourg 
where  Mme.  Tallien  presided.  An  accident  afforded  a 
good  opportunity  to  Talleyrand.  Whilst  he  waited  at 
Barras'  house  the  latter's  aide-de-camp,  a  youth  to  whom 
he  was  greatly  attached,  was   drowned   in   the  river,  and 

*  To  be  quite  accurate,  I  must  add  that  it  is  by  no  means  certain 
Talleyrand  met  Mme.  Grand  before  he  became  Minister.  Mme.  R^niusat 
makes  her  come  to  his  ministerial  bureau  for  a  passport  at  their  first 
meeting. 


I50  XTallcKant) 

it    fell    to    Talleyrand    to    console    the    very    distressed 
Director.     He  made  a  useful  impression  on  Barras  ;  in 
fact    that    functionary    some    time    later    paid    him    the 
awkward  compliment   of  saying  that   his  ways  "would 
sweeten    a    dung-hill."      There    was    a    change    in    the 
Ministry  soon  afterwards,  and  Barras  warmly  presented 
Talleyrand  for  foreign  affairs.     Rewbell   and  Reveillere 
supported  him.     Carnot  opposed  everything  that  Barras 
proposed,  and   Barthelemy    followed   Carnot.     But   the 
three  carried  the  nomination.     That  night  at  ten  o'clock 
Talleyrand  was  called  out  of  the  Salon  des  Etrangers  by 
a    gens-d'arme.       He    brought    an     official     notification 
signed     by    Carnot.       Talleyrand     foolishly    wastes    a 
paragraph   or  two   in  explaining  several  reasons  why  he 
felt  bound   to   accept.       One  would  like   him  better  if 
he  had  devoted  them  to   a  grateful  acknowledgment  of 
the    help    given    him    by    Mme.     de    Stael.      But    she 
seems  to  have  bored  him  a  good  deal,  and  in  any  case 
they    had    separated    before   these   pages   were  written. 
"She  has  only    one    defect,"    he    once    said:    "She    is 
insufferable." 

Thus  did  Talleyrand  enter  upon  the  second  stage 
of  his  diplomatic  career.  From  his  professional  point 
of  view  the  situation  was  superb.  France  was  still  at 
war  with  the  world,  but  the  success  of  Napoleon  was 
gradually  bringing  matters  to  the  point  where  diplomacy 
begins.  There  was  the  prospect  of  a  long  series  of 
treaties.  Talleyrand  was,  as  ever,  ardently  desirous  of 
peace  ;    he    wrote    to    Madame     de     Stael     with    that 


XTbe  1ReGenerate&  iparis  151 

assurance.*  Unfortunately,  his  chiefs  were  very  meddle- 
some, very  quarrelsome,  and  not  very  competent. 
They  "  had  been  chosen  in  anger,  and  had  not  transcen- 
dent ability,"  says  Mme.  de  Stael.  Barras,  a  violent 
ex-soldier,  with  a  good  judgment  and  some  penetration, 
was  a  Dantonist,  and  of  loose  and  luxurious  life. 
Carnot,  the  second  strong  man,  detested  Barras  on  both 
counts.  He  was  a  Robespierrean,  a  man  of  strict 
conduct,  shrewd  but  narrow,  Rewbell,  a  moderate,  a 
lawyer  of  ability  and  integrity,  but  rather  gruff,  detested 
both  Carnot  and  Barras  and  their  traditions.  Reveil- 
lere,  honest  and  peaceful,  tried  to  mediate.  Barthe- 
lemy,  ex-abbe,  supported  Carnot.  Their  deliberations 
were  lively.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Directorate 
that  Talleyrand  attended  Carnot,  raising  his  hand, 
swore  that  some  accusation  of  Barras'  was  untrue. 
"  Don't  raise  your  hand,"  shouted  Barras  ;  "  it  would 
drip  with  blood."  "These  are  the  men,"  says  Talley- 
rand, "  with  whom  I  was  to  work  to  reintroduce 
France  into  European  society."  He  would  not  even 
see  the  good  points  of  his  colleagues  of  the  Institut. 
Reveillere  was  a  supporter  of  the  new  "  Theophilan- 
thropists  "  —  "a  gang  of  thieves,"  says  Talleyrand, 
with  bitter  levity.  The  Theophilanthropists  correspond 
to  what  are  now  called  "Ethical  Societies."  They  hired 
halls,  in  which  they  had  moral  discourses  and  lectures 
on    philosophy,    with    singing    of    undogmatic    hymns. 


*  Let  me  add,  too,  that  the  letter  is  full  of  gratitude  to  her.     "  I  love 
you  with  my  whole  soul  "  is  his  sincere  (if  rather  Gallic)  expression. 


152  XTaUe^rant) 

With  the  very  few  churches  left  active  in  Paris,  they 
formed  the  only  sobering  influence.  But  Talleyrand 
had,  by  the  time  he  wrote  his  memoirs,  lost  all  admira- 
tion of  the  philosophic  morality  he  had  so  much  appre- 
ciated in  his  speech  on  education. 

Moreover,  the  Directors  left  their  Ministers  no 
initiative.  Talleyrand  says  he  had  little  to  do  except 
sign  documents  drawn  up  by  them  and  give  passports. 
On  one  occasion  Rewbell  compelled  him  to  re-write  the 
instructions  he  was  sending  to  envoys.  The  romantic 
biographers  describe  another  occasion  when,  they  say, 
Barras  threw  an  ink-pot  at  him.  Representatives  abroad 
complained  that  France  had  no  policy.  The  Directors 
were  too  slavishly  influenced  by  their  emissaries,  and 
each  of  them  had  his  own  plan.  There  was,  too,  the 
eternal  scarcity  of  money.  At  the  Department  the 
salaries  of  most  of  the  officials  were  in  arrears.  At  his 
official  residence  he  would  have  us  believe  that  the 
servants  were  dining  off*  Sevres  dishes  because  they 
could  not  afford  to  buy  earthenware. 

The  difficulty  increased  rapidly.  There  was  still 
great  distress  in  the  country,  and  plots  against  the 
Directory  were  continual  ;  one  writer  says  there  was  an 
average  of  one  per  day.  Six  weeks  after  Talleyrand's 
nomination  a  crisis  occurred,  and  his  conduct  during  it 
has  been  severely  censured.  The  relaxation  of  the 
more  violent  measures  had  encouraged  the  royalists  and 
other  malcontents  to  act  more  vigorously.  Evidence 
reached    the    Directors    (partly    from     Napoleon)    of    a 


XLbc  lRcocnerate^  parts  153 

powerful  and  far-reaching  conspiracy  against  them.  At 
the  head  of  it  was  the  royalist  General  Pichegru,  who 
was  believed  to  have  a  following  of  180  deputies.  The 
Clichy  Club  at  Paris  had  become  a  notorious  rallying- 
place  for  malcontents,  and  Director  Carnot  was  patronis- 
ing it  in  a  very  compromising  way.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Constitutional  Club — with  Talleyrand  and  Constant 
and  Mme.  de  Stael — could  naturally  be  relied  on  to 
oppose  a  counter-revolution,  little  as  it  respected  the 
Directorate.  Napoleon,  too,  made  it  clear  that  his  assist- 
ance could  be  had. 

It  is,  however,  in  complete  opposition  to  the 
evidence,  that  Lytton  accuses  Talleyrand  of  taking  the 
initiative  ;  and  still  worse  is  Michaud's  reckless  state- 
ment that  Talleyrand  "  arranged  everything."  A  sober 
inquiry  into  the  coup  d'etat  of  Fructidor  only  discovers 
that  Talleyrand  supported  it  in  advance,  but  was  not 
implicated  in  the  violent  manner  of  its  execution,  which, 
indeed,  he  used  his  influence  to  moderate.  On  the 
information  supplied  to  the  Directors  no  legal  action 
could  be  taken.  Reveillere,  whose  life  was  threatened, 
then  conceived  the  idea  of  acting  by  force,  though 
without  unnecessary  severity.  He  approached  Rewbell, 
who  consented,  and  the  two  easily  induced  Barras  to 
join.  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  these  officials,  who 
hampered  Talleyrand  in  his  own  department  and  kept 
him  in  habitual  ignorance  of  other  affairs,  should  do 
more  than  secure  his  support  as  a  Constitutionalist. 
Napoleon  was  requested   to   send  troops,   and   to   these 


154  Ualle^rant) 

he  added  as  general  the  excitable  and  meddlesome 
Augereau,  who  soon  had  his  men  quartered  within 
striking  distance.  The  Clichy  Clubbites  meantime  grew 
more  audacious,  and  on  September  3rd  they  warmly 
cheered  a  proposal  in  the  Chamber  to  destroy  the 
executive.  That  night  the  streets  of  Paris  rang  with 
the  unfamiliar  tread  of  an  army,  a  token  to  all  that 
an  unconstitutional  act  was  afoot.  The  next  morning 
the  two  Councils  found  themselves  surrounded  by 
10,000  troops.  Pichegru  and  42  of  his  followers  in 
the  Five  Hundred,  Barbe-Mabois  and  eleven  of  the 
Ancients,  and  148  other  alleged  conspirators,  especially 
journalists,  were  arrested.  The  Directors  had  warned 
Carnot  and  Barthelemy,  whom  they  had  no  wish  to 
injure  personally.  Carnot,  who  had  long  toyed  with 
the  Opposition,  and  had  resisted  every  friendly  overture, 
now  fled.  Barthelemy  was  arrested.  Merlin  de  Douai, 
a  lawyer,  and  Francois  de  Neufchateau,  a  literary  man, 
took  the  places  of  Carnot  and  Barthelemy.  The  new 
Directorate  obtained  extensive  powers  from  the  newly- 
constituted  Councils,  revived  the  old  stringent  decrees 
against  emigrants  and  priests,  and  initiated  a  long  series 
of  deportations.  They  sent  65  of  the  worst  conspirators 
to  Guiana  —  the  guillotine  would  have  been  more 
merciful — and  the  rest  to  the  Isle  of  Oleron.  In  all 
some  10,000  Nonconformist  priests  and  returned 
royalists  were  prescribed,  but  only  a  proportion  of  these 
were  actually  banished.  There  was  another  general 
flight  to  the  frontier. 


[p.  154. 


XTbe  lReGcneratc&  iparts  155 

As  I  said,  it  is  absurd  to  ascribe  to  Talleyrand  a 
very  active  share  in  these  proceedings.  The  charge 
seems  to  rest  chiefly  on  the  authority  of  Miot  de  Melito 
and  Pasquier  ;  both  are  deeply  prejudiced  against 
Talleyrand  (Miot  de  Melito  had  just  been  deposed  from 
his  embassy  at  Turin  by  the  Foreign  Minister),  and  both 
were  hundreds  of  miles  away  from  Paris  at  the  time. 
It  is  a  good  instance  of  the  levity  with  which  the  case 
against  Talleyrand  is  conducted.  Talleyrand  was  at 
Barras'  house  the  night  before  the  coup  d'etat  ;  so  were 
Constant  and  Mme.  de  Stael,  who,  Pasquier  admits, 
"  wished  the  day  but  not  the  morrow."  It  is  admitted, 
moreover,  that  Talleyrand  used  every  eflFort  to  moderate 
the  execution  of  the  laws,  and  saved  several  individuals 
from  banishment.  As  to  the  defence  of  the  proceedings 
in  his  letter  to  Napoleon  and  his  circular  letter  to  the 
government  agents  abroad,  no  one  will  be  so  foolish  as 
to  seek  in  these  an  expression  of  his  judgment.  Officially 
he  had  to  present  the  case  in  optimistic  language  or 
resign.  The  only  ground  for  a  censure  is,  in  fact,  that 
he  did  not  resign  ;  and  it  would  be  to  ascribe  to 
Talleyrand  a  quite  heroic  degree  of  sensitiveness  to  expect 
him  to  resign  on  account  of  a  procedure  which  Thiers 
soberly  regards  as  having  "  prevented  civil  war,  and 
substituted  in  its  stead  a  stroke  of  policy  executed  with 
energy,  but  with  all  the  calmness  and  moderation  possible 
in  times  of  revolution." 

Probably  one  of  the  clearest  proofs  that  the  Directors 
were  not  much  indebted  to  Talleyrand  for  their  successful 


156  XTalle^ranC) 

extinction  of  the  conspiracy  lies  in  the  fact  that  his 
relations  with  them  became  more  strained  than  ever.  In 
October  the  Prussian  envoy  wrote  to  his  Government 
that  Talleyrand  could  only  retain  his  position  "  by  a 
miracle  of  intelligence  and  conduct."  Four  of  the 
Directors  would  not  speak  to  him,  and  he  was  reduced 
almost  to  the  position  of  a  clerk  in  his  department.  It 
suits  Michaud  to  imagine  that  Talleyrand  took  the 
initiative  in  important  matters  like  the  revolutionising  of 
Switzerland,  where  there  was  money  to  be  had.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  Talleyrand  had  no  responsible  part 
in  forming  the  Roman  and  Helvetian  Republics.  In  his 
Edaircissements  (July,  1799)  he  says  he  was  not  even 
present  at  a  single  discussion  on  the  matter.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  must  have  felt  some  satisfaction  when  he  saw 
how  Napoleon  was  ignoring  the  Directors.  In  October 
Napoleon  concluded  the  treaty  of  Campo  Formio  with 
Austria,  in  complete  opposition  to  the  instructions 
Talleyrand  had  been  sending  him  to  the  end  of 
September.  Talleyrand  wrote  him  a  letter  of  warm 
congratulation,  which  I  give  later.  He  secured  the 
nomination  of  Napoleon  as  plenipotentiary  at  the  subse- 
quent Congress  of  Rastadt,  but  the  instructions  sent  to 
him  were  always  drawn  up  by  the  Directors.  Talleyrand 
had  been  similarly  slighted  in  the  negotiations  for 
peace  with  England.  He  had  come  into  office  at  the 
time  when  Lord  Malmesbury  was  conferring  with  the 
French  envoys  at  Lille.  Malmesbury  was  sincerely 
anxious    to    effect    peace,    though    Talleyrand     believes 


XTbe  IRegcncratcb  iparis  157 

Pitt  had  merely  sent  him  as  a  blind.  Talleyrand 
wrote  a  memorandum  on  the  situation  soon  after 
his  appointment,  in  which  he  pleaded  for  a  real  effort 
to  secure  peace,  and  suggested  a  tactical  procedure 
in  view  of  the  embarrassed  position  of  the  English 
Government.  He  was  called  "  an  ass  "  for  his  pains, 
and  was  directed  to  replace  Maret  by  two  new  envoys 
with  inflated  statements  of  the  position  and  claim 
of  France.  On  September  i8th  Malmesbury  sadly 
recognised  that  peace  was  impossible,  and  returned  to 
London.  The  truth  was  that  the  Directors  now  relied 
on  the  operations  of  Napoleon  to  fill  their  empty  coffers 
and  sustain  their  prestige. 

In  October  of  the  same  year  (1797)  occurred  an 
event  which  Talleyrand's  critics  contemplate  in  a  perfect 
luxury  of  moral  indignation.  Vice,  venality,  and 
treachery  are  said  to  be  the  capital  offences  of  his  career. 
The  first  charge  we  have  considered  ;  the  third  can  be 
appreciated  only  at  a  later  stage  ;  the  second  now  calls 
for  examination.  Let  me  indicate  at  once  my  reply  to 
it.  Talleyrand  was  not  "venal"  in  the  more  offensive 
sense  of  the  word.  He  never  sold  the  interest  of  his 
country,  or  any  humane  cause.  He  did  endeavour  to 
make  as  much  money  as  possible  out  of  the  Govern- 
ments and  princes  which  benefitted,  or  escaped  injury, 
by  his  diplomatic  arrangements  ;  but  these  were  always 
in  the  interest  of  France.  Further,  whatever  be  said 
of  diplomatic  arrangements  in  our  time,  the  secret 
transfer  of  money  was  a  common  association  of  them  in 


158  XTallCKant) 

Talleyrand's  day;  and  the  transaction,  being  secret,  was 
commonly  exaggerated.  At  the  signing  of  the  Treaty 
of  Paris  in  1 8 1  ^,  Metternich  and  Nesselrode  were 
accused  of  taking  a  million  each  from  Louis  XVIII. 
M.  de  Bacourt,  who  was  in  a  position  to  know,  says 
they  "only  took  the  usual  diplomatic  present"  (boxes 
worth  18,000  francs  each).  Hangwitz  is  accused 
of  being  still  more  venal.  Mirabeau  and  Danton 
had  been  in  the  secret  pay  of  the  Court.  Mirabeau 
is  even  said  to  have  taken  a  thousand  louis  d'or 
from  Spain  for  his  diplomatic  recommendation  in 
1790.  Sieyes  took  400,000  francs  from  Napoleon 
for  his  share  in  making  him  First  Consul — when, 
in  fact.  Napoleon  distributed  a  respectable  fortune. 
Barras  was  notoriously  corrupt.  Rewbell  was  impli- 
cated. Roger  Ducos  was  bought.  Pitt  had  been  quite 
willing  to  make  the  Directors  a  secret  present  of 
ten  and  a  half  million  francs  (while  loftily  refusing  to 
pay  two  million  sterling)  during  the  negotiations,  and 
Malmesbury  had  on  his  own  account  tried  to  buy 
the  vote  of  one  of  the  Directors.  Fifty  blacks  do 
not  make  one  white.  I  am  only  pointing  out  that 
Talleyrand's  conduct  was  not  distinctive.  He  had  far 
more  opportunities  than  any  other  man  of  his  time ; 
and  the  actual  charges  against  him  are  generally 
frivolous.  The  American  "scandal"  is  one  of  the  most 
authentic. 

Adams  had  sent  envoys  to  Paris  in    1797   to  settle 
the   differences  outstanding  between   the  United   States 


TLbc  IRcGencrateO  Paris  159 

and  France.  Instead  of  being  invited  at  once  to  meet 
Talleyrand,  they  were  visited  by  secret  agents  who 
hinted  that  they  came  from  the  Foreign  Minister,  and 
said  the  Directors  were  too  angry  to  negotiate,  but 
might  be  induced  to  do  so.  The  means  they  indicated 
were,  firstly,  a  private  payment  of  1,200,000  livres 
(^^50,000)  "  to  the  Directors,"  and  secondly,  a  loan 
from  America  to  France*  of  32,000,000  on  Dutch 
securities  that  were  only  worth  half  that  sum.  After  a 
number  of  interviews  the  envoys  were  recalled  by  their 
President,  and  a  full  account  of  the  negotiations 
(without  the  names  of  the  agents)  was  published  by  the 
United  States.  Talleyrand  disowned  his  agents,  but 
there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  they  acted  on  his 
instructions.  His  action  provoked  a  widespread  and 
deserved  censure,  but  certain  features  of  the  transaction 
need  to  be  emphasised.  Talleyrand  was  certainly  acting 
for  Barras,  though  he  would  assuredly  share  the  spoil. 
Further,  the  American  envoys  never  professed  the  least 
moral  resentment  of  the  suggestion  of  a  commission 
until  all  was  over.  During  the  negotiations  they  wrote 
home  of  it  as  being  "according  to  diplomatic  usage,"  and 
said  they  "  might  not  so  much  regard  a  little  money, 
such  as  he  stated  to  be  useful."  No  stress  whatever  is 
laid  on  it,  "that  being  completely  understood  on  all  sides 
to    be    required    for    the    officers    of  Government,    and 

*  The  Cambridge  "  French  Revolution  "  states  that  they  asked  £50,000 
for  Talleyrand,  and  the  32  million  francs  for  the  Directors  I  A  minor  slip 
in  the  Cambridge  "  America  "  makes  the  agents  claim  50,000  dollars  "  for 
each  Director."     Some  of  the  Directors  were  honourable  men. 


i6o  'C;alle\>ran^ 

therefore  needing  no  further  explanation."  Their 
objection  was  solely  raised  against  the  loan,  which  they 
regarded  as  a  kind  of  tribute  wrung  from  the  States.  It 
was  also  this  second  proposal  that  led  to  the  dangerous 
outbreak  of  anger  and  war-like  preparations  in  the 
States,  as  the  Cambridge  text-book  shows.  It  is  quite 
clear  that  the  suggestion  of  a  commission  alone  would 
have  done  no  harm,  and  would  not  have  been  considered 
unusual,  except  in  amount,  which  was  possibly  determined 
by  Barras. 

Thus  an  examination  of  the  documents  published 
by  the  American  Government  greatly  reduces  the  gravity 
of  the  matter.  Had  there  been  no  suggestion  of  a  loan 
we  should  never  have  heard  of  it  ;  and  even  in  France 
the  cry  of  "scandal"  was  very  much  confused  with  a 
perception  of  the  very  evil  result  of  pressing  the  loan, 
which  was  an  honest,  if  impolitic,  attempt  to  trade  in 
the  interest  of  the  nation.  Sieyes  wrote  from  Berlin  to 
reproach  Talleyrand  with  "  trafficking  in  his  honour." 
There  are  so  many  who  make  amends  to  the  moral 
ideal  by  their  generosity  in  condemning  others.  Mme. 
de  Stael  implored  Talleyrand  to  exculpate  himself,  but 
he  smiled.  His  habitual  critics  were,  of  course,  delighted 
at  so  well  authenticated  an  exposure,  and  to  the 
Michauds  and  Sainte-Beuves  of  a  later  date  this  one 
exact  documentary  proof  has  seemed  providential.  So 
little  serious  notice  was  taken  of  it  (apart  from  the 
loan)  by  sober  men  at  the  time  that,  when  Talleyrand 
resigns    on   other  grounds,   in   the  following   year,  and 


ZTbe  1Re(}eneratc^  {parts  i6i 

writes   the   only   apologia   of  his  life,  he  dismisses   this 
in  two  lines.* 

This  American  affair,  of  which  we  have  such 
accurate  information,  affords  a  firm  footing  in  the 
controversy  about  Talleyrand's  "venality."  The  rest  is 
mainly  hear-say  and  wild  conjecture,  resting  largely  on 
the  authority  of  discarded  subordinates  (like  Miot  de 
Melito),  political  opponents  (like  Pasquier),  foreign 
rivals  (like  Roux,  or  Palmerston),  or  other  people 
with  grievances  (like  Napoleon  in  his  later  years).  It 
is  not  usual  to  take  such  evidence  at  its  face  value. 
Sainte-Beuve  makes  a  most  bitter  attack  on  Talleyrand 
under  this  head,  but  has  little  to  say  in  detail  beyond 
a  vague  statement  that  Talleyrand  at  some  time  or  other 
calculated  he  had  made  sixty  millions  by  commissions. 
Sainte-Beuve's  reputation  for  scholarship  and  discrimi- 
nation happily  does  not  rest  on  his  "  Talleyrand." 
Bastide  makes  a  more  honest  attempt  to  support  his  own 
statement  that  Talleyrand  gained  thirty  millions  during 
three  years.  He  can,  however,  only  swell  his  list  of 
gains  in  detail  to  14,650,000  livres,  and  many  of  the 
larger  items  are  quite  out  of  place,  or  wholly  ridiculous. f 

•  Professor  Sloane  informs  America  that  Talleyrand  was  forced  to 
resign  "  in  consequence  of  his  scandalous  attempt  to  extort  a  bribe  from 
the  American  envoys."  It  is  of  a  piece  with  Sloane's  whole  reckless 
reference  to  Talleyrand.  He  would  have  us  believe  that  Talleyrand  was 
from  the  beginning  in  the  pay  of  Napoleon  ;  and  so  he  contrives  to  be 
ignorant  of  the  fact  that  when  Napoleon  left  Toulon  for  Egypt  in  May,  1798, 
Talleyrand  gave  him  100,000  francs. 

I  Thus,  the  list  includes  1,500,000  made  on  change  during  the  English 
negotiations,  and  2,000,000  as  a  share  in  the  prizes  taken  at  sea.  It  also 
includes  1,000,000  from  Austria  for  the  insertion  of  the  secret  articles  in 

II 


1 62  XTalle^rant) 

He  solemnly  tells  us  he  thinks  it  is  a  sufficient  guarantee 
for  the  accuracy  of  his  items  that  they  are  found  in 
publications  of  the  time,  and  were  not  contradicted  by 
Talleyrand  !  The  biographer  who  takes  literally  every 
charge  he  finds  in  the  pamphlets  of  1789-1799,  or 
expects  to  find  them  seriously  met  by  men  like  Talley- 
rand, has  a  curious  idea  of  his  work.  And  the  historians 
of  our  day  who  rely  on  such  biographers  deserve  little 
sympathy.  Michaud  is  more  reckless  than  Bastide. 
Lady  Blennerhassett  has  taken  up  his  specific  allegation 
that  Talleyrand  defrauded  Spain  of  24,000,000  livres 
(by  concealing  the  reduction  of  its  subsidy  and  pocketing 
the  difference),  and  shown  it  to  be  impossible.  The 
treaty  with  Portugal  is  said  by  some  writers  to  have 
yielded  Talleyrand  3,000,000  ;  Bastide  puts  his  profit 
at  1,200,000  ;  and  Michaud  merely  "  feels  sure  " 
Talleyrand  made  something  out  of  it.  Roux  declares  he 
made  5,000,000  out  of  the  treaty  with  Switzerland,  and 
Napoleon  was  very  liberal  in  his  later  estimates  of 
Talleyrand's  greed. 

Quite  certainly  Talleyrand's  commissions  have  been 
grossly  exaggerated.  The  flimsiest  charges  and  the 
wildest  conjectures  have  been  eagerly  used  against  him. 
But  he  did  probably  make  a  large  sum  in  this  way 
whilst  he  was  Foreign  Minister.  He  let  it  be  known 
amongst    the     foreign    ambassadors    that    he    expected 


the  Treaty  of  Campo  Formio  (on  which  Talleyrand  had  no  influence  what- 
ever), and  1,000,000  from  Prussia  for  preventing  the  fulfilment  of  these 
articles,  and  so  on. 


Zhc  IReocncrateb  Paris  163 

money.  Mme.  Grand  occasionally  facilitated  an  under- 
standing in  this  sense  ;  Napoleon  accused  her  of 
operations  on  her  own  account  at  times.  Talleyrand 
despised  his  chiefs,  and  saw  a  very  misty  prospect  for 
the  future.  He  resolved  to  use  his  position  to  make 
some  provision.  However,  he  never  sold  the  interest 
of  his  country,  and  he  was,  as  Senfft  says,  "  never 
induced  to  favour  plans  which  he  regarded  as  dangerous 
to  the  peace  of  Europe."  Senfft  tells  how,  on  a  later 
occasion,  the  Poles  put  4,000,000  florins  in  the  hands 
of  his  agent,  but  Talleyrand  returned  them  when  he 
found  it  impossible  to  do  what  they  desired.  I  am  not 
trying  to  show  that  his  conduct  was  consistent  with  a 
strong  and  high  character,  but  rebutting  the  exaggerated 
charges  which  lead  sober  historians  to  say,  as  Sloane 
does,  that  "  there  was  never  greed  more  dishonest  than 
his." 

This  is  almost  the  sole  aspect  of  Talleyrand's 
diplomatic  work  under  the  Directory  that  we  need 
consider.  His  splendid  gifts  were  never  utilised,  the 
Directors  employing  him  as  little  more  than  chief  clerk 
of  the  Foreign  Office.  In  July,  1798,  he  presented  to 
them  a  long  and  very  able  memorandum  on  the  situation 
abroad,  and  about  that  time  there  was  some  talk  of  his 
entrance  into  the  Directorate.  The  Prussian  ambassador 
wrote  home  that  such  an  event  would  almost  put  an 
end  to  the  convulsions  of  Europe.  But  the  Directors 
were  fixed  in  their  fine  contempt  for  his  views,  and  they 
made  diplomacy  impossible.    Talleyrand  suffered  himself 


1 64  ITaUescan^ 

to  remain  the  organ  of  their  absurd  conceptions  until 
the  middle  of  1799.  A  man  of  his  temper  could 
tolerate  the  position  at  such  a  price.  Meantime  he 
lived  pleasantly  at  the  Hotel  Galiffet.  The  authoress 
of  the  Memoires  d'une  Contemporaine  describes  how  he 
spent  hours  in  idle  talk  with  her  at  the  office,  and 
curled  her  hair  with  thousand-franc  notes.  But  one  eye 
was  fixed  all  the  time  on  a  strenuous  figure  that  was 
leading  the  armies  in  the  south — the  figure  of  Napoleon 
Buonaparte.  In  that  direction  lay  the  only  hope  for 
the  restoration  of  France  and  of  diplomacy. 


CHAPTER    IX 


ENTER     NAPOLEON 


Talleyrand  had  written  at  once  in  1797  to  inform  the 
commander  of  the  army  of  Italy  of  his  nomination  to 
the  Foreign  Ministry.  "Justly  apprehensive,"  he  said, 
"  of  functions  of  which  I  feel  the  fateful  importance,  I 
need  to  reassure  myself  by  the  consciousness  of  how 
much  the  negotiations  will  be  facilitated  by  your  glory. 
The  very  name  of  Buonaparte  is  an  auxiliary  that  will 
remove  all  difficulties."  He  had  already  a  dim  prevision 
of  the  day  when  the  princes  of  Europe  would  gather 
timidly  about  the  dreaded  figure  of  the  Corsican  and  his 
Foreign  Minister.  He  says  that  Napoleon  had  written 
to  him  first.  This  is  probably  untrue  ;  but  Napoleon  at 
once  replied,  and  the  two  men  immediately  appreciated 
each  other.  Within  a  few  weeks  Napoleon  sent  him  a 
lono[  and  curious  letter  containing  his  views  on  constitu- 
tional  questions  and  popular  representation.  About  the 
same  time  he  spoke  to  Miot  de  Melito  about  Talleyrand 
in  terms  of  high  appreciation.  When  Napoleon  closed 
the  Austrian  campaign  and  signed  the  Treaty  of  Campo 
Formio,  in  opposition  to  the  instructions  from  Paris, 
Talleyrand  wrote  him  a  private  letter  of  extravagant 
congratulation,      "  So  we  have  peace  made — and  peace 

165 


i66  Ualle^ran^ 

a  la  Buonaparte.  Accept  my  hearty  compliments, 
General.  Words  could  not  convey  all  I  feel  just  now. 
The  Directors  are  satisfied,  the  public  delighted.  All  is 
for  the  best.  There  may  be  some  muttering  from  Italy, 
but  it  does  not  matter.  Good-bye,  peace-making 
General.  Friendship,  admiration,  respect,  gratitude — 
one  does  not  know  where  to  end."  The  feeling  was 
sincere,  and  Talleyrand  had  a  way  of  conveying  high 
compliments  without  incongruity.  These  early  letters, 
Sainte-Beuve  says,  remind  one  of  Voltaire's  honeymoon 
with  Frederic. 

In  December  Napoleon  arrived  at  Paris,  and  the 
two  men  met  for  the  first  time.  Each,  of  course,  now 
says  that  the  other  sought  the  interview.  Napoleon  had 
changed  his  route  as  he  approached  Paris,  and  was  at  his 
house  in  the  Rue  Chantereine  before  his  arrival  was 
known.  He  says  that  Talleyrand  called  at  once  ;  but  as 
even  Josephine  found  his  door  barred  and  Napoleon 
mad  with  angry  suspicion  of  her,  he  could  not  be  seen 
that  night.  On  the  following  morning  Talleyrand  and 
Mme.  de  Stael  and  a  few  friends  waited  in  the  Hotel 
Galiffet,  when  Napoleon,  quietly  dressed,  pale,  very 
silent,  entered  the  salon.  He  took  Talleyrand  into  his 
private  room,  and  had  a  long  conversation  with  him,  and 
then  Talleyrand  introduced  him  to  the  Directors  at  the 
Luxembourg.  Napoleon  puzzled  in  a  charming  way  the 
citizens  of  Paris.  He  dressed  with  ostentatious  plainness, 
spoke  little,  and  avoided  public  meetings  and  demon- 
strations.      At    the   Luxembourg   a   splendid    reception 


Bnter  IRapoleon  167 

ceremony  had  been  prepared.  The  Directors  sat  on  a 
dais  in  the  court  in  their  stagey  satin  clothes,  lawyers 
and  parliamentarians  filled  the  amphitheatre,  and  a  great 
orchestra  and  choir  rendered  an  ode  written  for  the 
occasion.  Talleyrand  said  in  his  introductory  speech  : 
"  When  1  observe  all  that  he  does  to  cover  his  glory, 
this  classic  taste  for  simplicity  that  distinguishes  him, 
his  love  of  abstract  science,  his  favourite  books,  that 
sublime  Ossian  which  seems  to  detach  him  from  earth  ; 
when  I  see  his  disdain  for  show,  for  luxury,  for  pomp, 
those  petty  ambitions  of  common  souls — then,  far  from 
dreading  what  some  would  call  his  ambition,  I  feel  that 
some  day  you  may  have  to  drag  him  forth  from  his 
studious  retreat."  Napolean  probably  thanked  him  for 
keeping  up  the  show,  but  may  have  feared  he  was 
overdoing  it.  They  understood  each  other,  yet  really 
liked  each  other. 

Talleyrand  gave  a  magnificent  festival  in  honour  of 
the  conqueror  ;  though  he  confesses  some  difficulty  in 
finding  ladies  amongst  the  women  of  Paris  !  As  it  was, 
the  wife  of  one  of  the  Directors  openly  observed  to  him  : 
"  What  a  lot  it  must  have  cost  you,  citizen-minister  !  " 
He  also  induced  Napoleon,  though  with  great  difficulty, 
to  attend  the  anniversary  of  the  King's  execution. 
Napoleon  did  not  wait  long  to  abolish  that  suggestive 
commemoration.  But  the  jealousy  and  uneasiness  of 
the  Directors  made  Napoleon's  position  uncomfortable. 
He  began  immediately  to  look  for  another  field  for 
military  action.     The  Directors  thought  of  Ireland  as  a 


i68  Uallesranb 

sufficiently  remote  locality,  but  Napoleon  was  better 
informed  as  to  the  possibility  of  a  direct  attack  on 
England.  He  then  unfolded  to  Talleyrand  the  plan 
for  an  invasion  of  Egypt,  and  it  was  laid  before  the 
Directors.  The  idea  had  occurred  to  one  or  two  earlier 
dreamers  in  France,  but,  in  spite  of  what  Napoleon 
afterwards  said,  it  is  incredible  that  Talleyrand  should 
have  really  approved  it.  It  was  certainly  Talleyrand's 
idea  that  France  should  extend  along  the  whole  shore 
of  the  Mediterranean,  and  leave  the  high  seas  to 
England,  but  a  leap  from  Marseilles  to  Alexandria  was 
a  different  matter.  However,  he  lent  Napoleon  the 
collection  of  Egyptian  documents  in  the  Foreign  Office, 
and  clearly  did  not  oppose  his  plan.  Miot  de  Melito, 
who  was  in  close  communication  with  Napoleon,  and 
who  would  not  lose  an  opportunity  of  blaming  Talley- 
rand, says  that  Napoleon  acted  entirely  on  his  own 
view  and  dragged  everybody  with  him.  Within  twelve 
months  we  find  Talleyrand  (in  his  Edaircissements) 
openly  denying  that  he  had  approved  the  expedition. 

However,  the  Directors  yielded,  and  the  famous 
fleet  of  500  vessels  sailed  from  Toulon  on  May  19th, 
1798.  Talleyrand  had  apparently  promised  to  follow 
within  twenty-four  hours,  to  arrange  matters  with  the 
Sultan  at  Constantinople.  He  was,  however,  ill  at  the 
time,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  ever  intended  to  do 
so.  If  we  may  trust  the  memoirs,  he  saw  only  a 
personal  design  in  the  expedition  at  the  time. 
Napoleon  had  spoken  to  him  of  founding  a  rich  colony 


^' 


'^■^- 


[p.  1 68. 


Bnter  'Wapoleon  169 

in  Egypt,  and  going  on  to  attack  England  in  India, 
but  he  had  dropped  a  word  about  returning  by  way  of 
Constantinople.  That  was  "not  the  way  to  India,"  nor 
would  he  be  likely  to  leave  the  Sultan's  throne  standing, 
or  set  up  a  Turkish  Republic,  says  Talleyrand.  In 
other  words  he  professes  that  he  thought  Napoleon 
wanted  to  found  an  empire  in  the  East.  All  this  was 
written,  we  must  remember,  after  Napoleon's  imagina- 
tion had  fully  revealed  its  possibilities.  The  most 
probable  reading  of  the  situation  is  that  Talleyrand  felt, 
like  Napoleon,  that  "  the  pear  was  not  ripe  yet;"  that 
Napoleon  had  better  keep  out  of  the  way  for  a  year  or 
two  ;  and  that  something  might  come  of  this  imposing 
military  and  scientific  expedition. 

In  the  twelve  months  that  followed  the  pear  ripened 
fast.  To  the  chronic  financial  malady  and  political 
discontent  was  now  added  the  news  of  the  civil  war 
in  La  Vendee  and  of  the  disastrous  opening  of  the  war 
against  the  second  coalition.  This  was  far  more 
formidable  than  the  first.  Austria  was  encouraged  by 
the  absence  of  its  conqueror,  and  the  support  of  both 
Russia  and  Turkey.  England  was  fired  by  the 
announcement  of  Nelson's  victory  at  Aboukir  and  the 
apparent  isolation  of  Napoleon.  Portugal  and  Naples 
were  drawn  in.  The  first  battles  went  badly  for  the 
French,  and  the  Directors  and  Talleyrand  were  furiously 
assailed.  Talleyrand  thought  it  wise  to  withdraw  from 
the  Directors,  and  they  accepted  his  resignation  on 
July  20th,  with  some  show  of  regret.     How  far  he  was 


I70  TTaUevran^ 

then  informed  of  Napoleon's  position  and  plans  it  is 
impossible  to  determine  ;  but  it  is  believed  that  the 
Bonapartes  at  Paris  succeeded  in  communicating  with 
Egypt.  However,  Talleyrand,  in  September,  handed 
over  his  portefeuilie  to  his  friend,  Reinhard.  For  the 
first  and  only  time  in  his  career  (if  we  except  his  brief 
letter  in  1791  to  the  Moniteur)  he  answered  his  critics. 
His  "Explanations  to  his  fellow  citizens"  fully  destroy 
the  frivolous  charges  brought  against  him  as  a  minister 
and  republican,  especially  by  his  interested  predecessor, 
Lacroix,  and  the  members  of  the  Societe  du  Manege — 
whom  Napoleon  describes  as  "  a  gang  of  bloodthirsty 
ruffians."  In  the  end  Talleyrand  turns  on  his  opponents 
with  some  dignity.  "What  have  I  done,"  he  asks,  "that 
such  suspicions  should  fall  on  me  }  Is  there  anything  in 
my  whole  life  to  justify  such  a  supposition  }  Have  I 
ever  persecuted  or  been  vindictive  ?  Can  any  one 
reproach  me  with  a  single  act  of  severity  in  the  whole 
course  of  my  ministry?  Have  I  ever  injured  anyone, 
even  by  accident?"  It  was  a  just  rebuke  and  just 
defence.  Few  of  the  hands  raised  against  him  were 
free  from  blood.  It  is  also  notable  that  the  charge  of 
corruption  is  not  pressed.  He  then  retired  to  his 
country  house  at  Auteuil,  to  resume  his  familiar  attitude 
of  awaiting  events. 

"Those  who  did  not  live  in  those  times,"  says 
de  Broglie,  "  can  have  no  idea  how  deep  was  the 
despondency  prevailing  in  France  between  the  i8th 
Fructidor  (September  4th,  1797)  and  the  i8th  Brumaire 


]£nter  IRapoleon  171 

(November  9th,  1799)-"  '^^^  Directory  had  proved 
wholly  unfitted  to  govern  France.  The  only  question  in 
the  summer  of  1799  was  :  What  shall  be  the  next  page 
in  the  constitutional  history  of  the  country  ?  In  May, 
Rewbell  had  had  to  retire  from  the  Directorate,  and  the 
victorious  Jacobins  had  replaced  him  by  Sieyes,  to  whom 
all  now  turned  for  a  lead.  Sieyes  found  his  colleagues 
in  the  way,  and  three  of  them  were  at  once  replaced  by 
two  mediocrities,  Gohier  and  Moulin,  and  an  active 
supporter,  Roger-Ducos.  Barras  alone  remained  of  the 
whole  group,  and  he  was  now  compromised  by  dallying 
with  royalist  agents.  It  was  clear  to  Sieyes  that  the 
reins  of  Government  must  be  put  in  the  strong  hands  of 
a  soldier,  and  he  thought  of  one  general  after  another. 
He  was  not  well  disposed  to  Napoleon,  but  Talleyrand 
made  it  his  task  to  effect  a  reconciliation.  The  Buonaparte 
family  was  also  very  busy  at  Paris,  preparing  a  reception 
for  the  General  who,  they  said,  had  been  sent  by  the 
Directors  on  this  hopeless  campaign  in  Egypt.  On 
the  8th  of  October  the  agitation  was  doubled  when  a 
message  was  received,  telling  that  Napoleon  had  landed 
at  Frejus.  He  had  left  his  army  and  his  difficulties  in 
charge  of  Kleber,  had  evaded  the  British  vessels,  and 
landed  with  a  few  of  his  generals  on  the  south  coast. 
On  October  i8th  he  arrived  at  Paris. 

The  menace  of  the  second  coalition  had  by  this 
time  been  arrested  by  the  victories  of  Massena  and 
the  withdrawal  of  the  Russians,  but  the  Directorate 
was  thoroughly  discredited,  and  its   enemies  were  alert 


172  ^aUei?ran5 

and  vigorous.  All  parties  now  turned  towards  Napoleon 
with  intense  interest.  Royalists  hoped  he  would  make 
himself  the  instrument  of  a  restoration.  The  Jacobins, 
who  had  become  strong  again,  watched  such  a  possibility 
with  concern.  The  moderates  felt  that  it  would  lead 
to  civil  war.  Every  malcontent  in  Paris  knew  that 
Napoleon  held  the  key  of  the  situation.  The  only  one 
who  seemed  to  be  unconscious  of  his  importance  was 
Napoleon  himself.  After  the  inevitable  round  of  fetes 
was  over- — and  it  was  remarked  how  he  drank  his  wine 
from  a  private  bottle  at  the  public  dinner — he  seemed 
to  forget  that  he  was  a  soldier.  He  spent  most  of  his 
time  at  the  Institut,  discussing  questions  of  science 
and  philosophy  ;  and  when  visitors  to  Paris  sought  the 
great  general,  they  had  pointed  out  to  them  a  quiet, 
pale  little  man  in  the  dress  of  a  scholar  of  the  Institut. 
But  his  little  house  in  the  Rue  de  Victoire  soon  became 
the  political  centre  of  Paris.  Talleyrand  and  Bruix 
(the  Ex-Minister  of  Marine)  were  daily  bringing 
members  of  the  Councils  to  visit  him.  Presently 
Talleyrand  reconciled  him  with  Sieyes  to  a  practicable 
extent — "  you  have  to  fill  this  priest  to  the  neck  with 
money  to  get  anything  out  of  him,"  Napoleon  said 
afterwards — and  the  definite  intrigue  began.  Napoleon 
would  accept  Sieyes'  new  constitution.  The  five 
Directors  were  to  be  replaced  by  three  Consuls  elected 
for  ten  years — but  if  he  thinks  I  am  going  to  be  a 
"fatted  pig"  he  is  mistaken,  said  Napoleon.  The 
Councils  would   be   suspended    for    three    months,  and 


Enter  Bapolcon  173 

then   replaced   by  a  Senate  (with  life-membership),  and 
an  elective  Chamber  of  Deputies. 

The  next  point  was  to  determine  the  date  and 
manner  of  the  Revolution.  The  generals  whom 
Napoleon  had  brought  were  winning  over  the  officers, 
but  they  felt  some  anxiety  about  the  soldiers,  who  were 
apprehensive  of  reactionary  change.  Talleyrand  had 
rallied  the  moderates,  such  as  Regnault  de  Saint-Jean 
d'Angely,  Roederer,  Constant,  Cambaceres,  Daunou, 
and  Semonville.*  They  could  count  on  a  majority  in 
the  Ancients,  and  Lucien  Buonaparte  was  President  of 
the  Five  Hundred.  Fouche,  the  accommodating 
Minister  of  Police,  carefully  abstained  from  reporting  to 
the  Directors  what  he  saw.  Barras  had,  in  fact,  com- 
pletely compromised  himself  by  openly  suggesting  a 
royalist  plot  to  Napoleon.  Roger-Ducos  was  with 
Sieyes.  Gohier  and  Moulin  stupidly  refused  to  see 
anything  until  the  very  last  moment.  The  only  difficulty 
was  with  the  Five  Hundred  and  the  soldiers,  and 
Napoleon  could  be  trusted  to  win  the  latter  and  so  crush 
the  Council.  Still  it  was  a  time  of  great  anxiety. 
Talleyrand  tells  how  Napoleon  and  he  were  discussing 
plans  in  his  house  in  the  Rue  Taitbout  at  one  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  when  suddenly  they  heard  a  company  of 
cavalry    gallop     down     the     street,    and    halt    opposite 

*  Napoleon  speaks  in  his  memoirs  of  Talleyrand  dreading  to  meet  him 
on  account  of  iiis  failure  to  follow  him  to  the  East,  and  making  every  effort 
to  win  his  favour.  It  is  absurd.  Tallejrand  knew  precisely  what  he  was 
worth  to  Napoleon.  All  Napoleon's  later  remarks  on  Talleyrand  must  be 
read  with  discrimination  ;  many  of  them  are  obvious  untruths. 


174  XTallc^ran^ 

Tallyrand's  door.  They  put  out  the  light  in  some 
concern,  and  crept  on  to  the  balcony  to  observe.  It  was 
the  carriage  of  the  manager  of  one  of  the  gaming  houses, 
returning  home  with  the  profits  and  an  escort  of  gens 
d'armes,  and  it  had  met  with  an  accident  just  before 
Talleyrand's  door. 

On  the  morning  of  November  9th  (i8th  Brumaire) 
Paris  awoke  once  more  to  find  a  revolution  afoot.  Great 
masses  of  troops  were  distributed  about  the  streets,  and 
a  crowd  of  officers  was  gathered,  by  invitation,  before 
Napoleon's  house^Napoleon  telling  them  from  the 
balcony  he  was  going  to  save  the  Republic.  The 
Ancients  were  to  meet  at  seven  o'clock,  the  Five 
Hundred  at  eleven,  and  in  fact  a  number  of  the  notices 
to  patriotic  members  of  the  latter  Council  had  prudently 
gone  astray  in  the  post.  Under  the  plea  of  some  vague 
conspiracy  being  abroad  the  complaisant  Ancients  decreed 
that  the  legislative  bodies  be  transferred  to  Saint  Cloud 
(which  was  in  form  constitutional),  that  Napoleon  be 
given  command  of  all  the  troops  at  Paris,  and  that  three 
Consuls  be  appointed.  Napoleon  and  his  generals  (who 
were  going  to  "  pitch  the  lawyers  in  the  river,"  as  some 
of  them  said)  at  one  proceeded  to  the  Chamber  and 
took  the  oath.  The  alarmed  patriots  of  the  Five 
Hundred  now  met,  but  were  immediately  closured  by 
Lucien  on  the  ground  that  they  had  been  constitutionally 
removed  to  Saint  Cloud.  Meantime  Barras  was  in  the 
hands  of  Talleyrand,  who  very  soon  extorted  his  resig- 
nation.   Sieyes  and  Ducos  resigned.    Gohier  and  Moulin 


[p.  174. 


£ntcr  IWapoleou  175 

were  shut  up  in  the  Luxembourg.  Fouche  suspended 
the  municipalities — it  being  a  time  of  trouble.  Napoleon 
established  himself  at  the  Tuileries.  His  careful  and 
elaborate  plan  had  so  far  succeeded. 

On  the  morrow  the  Councils  were  to  appoint  the 
Consuls  at  Saint  Cloud,  and  meantime  a  strong 
opposition  was  forming.  Three  of  the  generals  were 
not  in  the  plot,  and  one  of  them,  Bernadotte,  was  an 
active  member  of  the  Jacobin  Socieli  du  Manege^  which  at 
once  attempted  to  organise  a  counter-revolution.  The 
19th  Brumaire  opened  with  not  a  little  anxiety.  Sieyes 
and  Ducos  had  a  coach  and  six  at  one  of  the  gates  of 
Saint-Cloud.  Talleyrand  and  a  few  other  "  amateurs  " 
(as  he  says)  had  taken  a  house  at  Saint  Cloud — with  two 
alternatives  :  a  dinner  was  ordered  for  the  evening,  but 
a  coach  waited  at  the  door.  Napoleon  did  in  fact  make 
a  terrible  muddle  when  it  came  to  his  turn  to  speak. 
In  the  hall  where  the  Ancients  met  he  made  a  violent, 
disjointed,  most  imprudent  speech,  answering  questions 
with  the  most  clumsy  fabrications,  until  Bourrienne  had 
to  drag  him  away  with  the  remark  :  "  You  don't  know 
what  you  are  saying."  The  Ancients,  however,  gave  the 
required  vote.  But  no  sooner  did  Napoleon  enter  the 
hall  of  the  Five  Hundred  than  the  deputies  raged  about 
him  in  crowds.  He  nearly  fainted  and  had  to  be 
carried  out.  But  his  military  instinct  at  once  revived. 
Mounting  his  horse  he  complained  to  the  troops  that 
his  life  had  been  attempted  ;  and  when  Lucien  came  out 
with  the  news  that  they  were  outlawing  him,  and  Sieyes 


176  UaUc^vau& 

had  drily  answered  :  "  Well,  as  they  are  putting  you 
out  of  the  law,  put  them  out  of  the  room,"  he  cast  off  all 
hesitation.  On  the  previous  day  when  he  had  attempted 
to  explain  matters  to  Sebastiani's  dragoons,  who  formed 
his  escort,  they  curtly  replied  :  "  We  don't  want  any 
explanations  :  black  or  white,  we're  with  you."  And 
every  musket  was  loaded  with  ball.  Napoleon  now  turned 
to  the  captain  of  the  grenadiers  and  told  him  to  "go  and 
disperse  this  assembly  of  busy-bodies."  The  drums  beat 
the  charge,  the  grenadiers  swept  up  the  grand  staircase  at 
the  double,  turned  into  the  orangery  on  the  left  with 
bayonets  levelled,  and  the  patriotic  Five  Hundred  fled  by 
the  other  doors,  or  dropped  from  the  windows  into  the 
garden.  Talleyrand  and  his  fellow  amateurs  went  to  dinner. 
That  night  Lucien  gathered  together  a  score  or  so 
of  the  more  reliable  elements  of  the  Council,  and  passed 
the  new  Constitution.  Lucien  harangued  his  little 
group  on  the  great  theme  of  liberty  and  the  splendid 
example  of  Rome.  They  declared  the  Directorate 
extinct,  and  borrowing  again  from  "the  free  peoples  of 
antiquity,"  appointed  a  provisional  Consulate,  consisting 
of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  (the  Italian  "u"  had  disappeared 
by  this  time),  Sieyes,  and  the  faithful  Roger-Ducos.  They 
also  proscribed  57  obnoxious  deputies,  and  voted  the 
thanks  of  the  country  to  Napoleon  for  his  action.  So  ended 
the  French  Revolution.  An  act  of  despotism,  rendered 
possible  by  widespread  intrigue  and  corruption,  rang 
down  the  curtain  on  the  ten-year  drama  of  blind,  bloody. 
Titanic  stiuggles.     Yet  it  was  the  best  thing  for  France. 


CHAPTER   X 


WAR    AND    DIPLOMACY 


On  the  morning  of  December  i  ith,  1799,  Napoleon 
installed  himself  at  the  Luxembourg,  and  began  at  once 
the  stupendous  activity  with  which  he  was  to  raise 
France  to  the  position  of  first  Power  in  Europe.  Within 
a  fortnight  Talleyrand  was  back  at  the  Foreign  Office, 
with  a  prospect  at  last  of  using  in  his  correspondence 
that  "  noble  language  "  which  the  Revolution  and 
Directorate  had  disdained  to  use.  Of  the  civilians  in 
France,  two  men  alone  were  necessary  to  Napoleon — 
Fouche  and  Talleyrand.  Fouche  was  useful.  Talleyrand 
had  the  additional  advantage  of  making  Napoleon  bow 
in  secret  to  his  superior  culture  and  finesse.  In  the 
work  of  the  next  seven  years,  which  was  to  raise 
France  higher  than  she  had  ever  been  in  the  course  of 
her  history,  the  soldier  and  the  diplomatist  were  in- 
timately joined.  For  some  years  it  is  often  impossible, 
apart  from  military  operations,  to  distinguish  the  action 
of  the  one  from  that  of  the  other. 

In  the  earlier  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  in 
which  the  glory  of  Napoleon  and  the  greatness  of  France 
generally  coincide,  Talleyrand  had  an  unmlstakeable 
regard  and  affection  for  his  chief.     No  one  more  fully 

177  12 


178  UaUe^rauD 

appreciated  the  genius  of  Napoleon,  in  peace  or  war,  and 
no  one  appraised  more  highly  its  advantage  to   France. 
He  had,  too,  a  sufficient  sense  of  amiable  cynicism  to 
think  lightly  of  the  irony  with  which   Napoleon  brushed 
aside   the    pretentious  forms  of   liberty  and   fraternity, 
and  set  up  a  solid  but  despotic  system  of  government. 
With  a  smile  he  saw  the  country  accept  with  an  over- 
whelming majority  the  new  scheme  of  universal  suffrage. 
The  voters  of  each  district  were  to  choose  ten  of  their 
number  ;  these  tens  were  to  unite  in  each  Department 
and    choose   ten    "  Notabilities    of  the    Department ;  " 
these  were  in  turn  to   choose  their  tens  ;  and  then  the 
governing    powers    would    select    the    members    of  the 
legislative    bodies    and    the   chief  officials  of  the   State. 
The   Council   (chosen  by   the   executive)  would   initiate 
measures  ;    the  Tribunate,  the  really   popular  and   able 
body,  could  discuss  them  (within  limits),  but  not  vote  on 
them  ;  the  Legislative  Body  could  vote,  but  not  discuss 
them  ;     and    the     ornate    and     equally    silent     Senate 
had  a  right   of  Veto.      Talleyrand  gave  no   support  to 
Benjamin  Constant  when  he   opposed,   in  the   name  of 
liberty,  the  almost  immediate  introduction  of  the  closure 
in  the  Tribunate.     Like  most  of  his  friends,  he  at  once 
deserted    Mme.  de   Stad's  salon,  because   she   impelled 
Constant    to    this    course.      Nor    did    he    demur    when 
Bonaparte  very  quickly  reduced  the  number  of  journals 
from    73    to    13,    observing   (among  other   things)  that 
they  were  making  remarks  that  insulted  "the  sovereignty 
of  the  people."     They  had  been  unable  to  restrain  their 


Mar  an^  2)ipIomacv  179 

wit  over  the  new  democracy.  Talleyrand  had  never 
been  a  "  polygarchist,"  to  use  a  word  which  he  himself 
calls  barbarous  but  inevitable.  In  his  opinion  the 
people  had  proved  their  incompetence  to  rule.  It  was 
not  time-serving,  but  real  conviction,  that  made  him 
encourage  Napoleon's  monarchical  tendency. 

So  he  passed  with  good  spirit  through  the  few 
ironic  months  before  Napoleon  departed  for  Italy.  He 
was  present  at  the  first  meeting  of  Sieyes  and  Napoleon. 
Sieyes  saw  clearly  enough  the  direction  of  Napoleon's 
policy  ;  Napoleon  told  him  his  "  Grand  Elector  "  was 
a  roi  faineant^  and  "  the  time  of  do-nothing  kings  was 
past."  They  quarrelled  violently  and  parted.  At  the 
second  meeting  Sieyes  was  more  amiable.  "  The  pike 
is  making  short  work  of  the  other  fishes,"  said  a  shrewd 
lady  to  Mme.  Bonaparte.  By  February  the  constitu- 
tional difficulty  was  over.  Sieyes  had  disappeared, 
with  a  rich  sinecure  and  a  large  estate.  Ducos  was 
submerged  in  the  Senate.  The  "Grand  Elector"  had 
become  "First  Consul,"  with  almost  unlimited  power 
over  the  military,  naval,  civic  and  foreign  administration. 
The  amiable  Second  and  Third  Consuls,  Cambaceres 
and  Lebrun,  were  willing  to  act  as  little  more  than  back'- 
ground  to  Napoleon.  The  more  heated  Jacobins  were 
banished  (Talleyrand  striking  one  of  his  bitterest 
enemies,  Jarry,  off  the  list  of  the  proscribed).  The 
more  serious  members  of  the  old  legislation  were 
distributed  over  Europe  in  foreign  embassies  and  consul- 
ships.    The  Senate  was  installed  at   the   Luxembourg  ; 


i8o  TTalleK^nb 

the  virtuous  Tribunate  at  the  Palais  Egalite  (a  hotbed 
of  prostitutes  and  gamblers)  ;  and  the  Consuls  (though 
Cambaceres  prudently  declined  the  honour)  at  the 
Tuileries.  Napoleon  issued  a  proclamation  to  the 
nation,  which  ended  :  "  Citizens,  the  Revolution  is  now 
sealed  with  the  principles  that  first  set  it  afoot.  It  is 
over."  On  the  last  day  of  the  national  mourning  he 
had  directed  on  account  of  the  death  of  Washington, 
Napoleon  and  his  colleagues  drove  in  royal  state,  in  a 
splendid  carriage  drawn  by  six  white  horses,  to  the 
Tuileries.  They  had  to  pass  under  a  gate  over  which 
still  lingered  the  inscription  :  "  Royalty  is  abolished 
for  ever  in  Frarce."  Talleyrand  drove  under  it  with 
the  other  ministers  in  advance  of  Napoleon.  On  the 
following  day  Napoleon  went  over  his  new  home  with 
his  friends.  "  Well,  Bourrienne,"  he  said,  "  here  we 
are  at  the  Tuileries.  The  next  thing  is  to  see  that  we 
stop  here."  But  he  had  it  immediately  decorated  with 
the  statues  or  busts  of  great  generals  and  great  demo- 
crats of  all  nations.  Demosthenes,  Scipio,  Brutus  and 
Mirabeau  smiled  or  frowned  on  the  visitor  amidst  a 
crowd  of  warriors  and  kings. 

Talleyrand,  who  rightly  believed  that  these  changes 
were  for  the  real  good  of  France,  would  not  be  insensible 
to  the  humour  of  the  situation  or  the  diplomatic  genius 
of  the  new  head  of  the  State.  It  had  been  decreed  that 
ministers  should  discuss  their  portfolios  every  day  before 
the  three  Consuls,  but  Talleyrand  had  pointed  out  to 
Napoleon  on  the  day  of  his  installation  at  the  Foreign 


Tlillar  an^  Diplomacy  i8i 

Office  (Nov.  2  I  St,  1799)  that  its  affairs  were  of  a  pecu- 
liarly private  nature,  and  had  proposed  that  he  should 
confer  with  the  First  Consul  alone.  Napoleon  was  more 
than  willing,  and  the  long,  close,  and  most  fruitful 
co-operation  of  the  two  began.  Napoleonist  writers  are 
apt  to  imagine  that  Talleyrand  was  little  more  than  a 
clerk,  as  most  of  the  other  ministers  were,  but  we  shall 
see  as  we  proceed  that  Napoleon  often  left  even  the 
initiative  to  him.  Thiers  observes  that  Fouch6  and 
Talleyrand  were  the  only  ministers  who  were  not  effaced 
by  the  phenomenal  activity  of  Napoleon.  His  vast 
intelligence  was  already  at  work  on  plans  for  beautifying 
Paris,  improving  the  roads  of  the  country,  restoring 
financial  soundness,  creating  a  system  of  education, 
reviving  industry,  formulating  a  code  of  laws,  and 
effecting  a  hundred  other  improvements.  A  royalist 
visitor  who  saw  Napoleon  at  the  time  said  that  he  looked 
like  a  well-dressed  lackey — until  you  met  his  eye.  That 
eye  was  now  searching  Paris  through  and  through  for 
means  of  consolidating  his  position  ;  it  was  sweeping 
over  the  broad  provinces  of  France  in  search  of  disorders 
to  remedy  and  dangers  to  crush  :  it  was  following 
royalists  and  Jacobins  into  exile,  scanning  the  counten- 
ances of  kings  and  statesmen  abroad,  counting  their  ships 
and  forces,  turning  from  East  Indies  to  West  Indies, 
from  St.  Petersburg  to  Cairo  and  Persia.  In  Fouche  he 
had  a  political  detective,  unhampered  by  the  faintest 
sense  of  moral  principle,  who  could  answer  for  Paris. 
Gradually   relaxing   the   laws   against  the   emigrants,   he 


i82  XTalle^ran^ 

threw  open  the  career  to  all  talent,  excepting  only  the 
militant  royalists  and  the  most  violent  Jacobins.  Priests 
were  now  only  required  to  promise,  not  to  swear 
allegiance  ;  large  numbers  of  emigrants  were  struck  off 
the  list  on  one  pretext  or  other,  though  the  peasants 
were  at  the  same  time  assured  that  not  a  franc's  worth  of 
emigrant  or  ecclesiastical  property  would  be  restored  ; 
^nd  all  were  promptly  put  under  the  searchlight  of  the 
Ministry  of  Police.  Even  Jacobins  were  in  time 
absorbed.  Talleyrand  saw  one  leave  Napoleon's  room 
one  day,  and  expressed  surprise  at  it.  "  You  don't 
know  the  Jacobins,"  said  Napoleon.  "  There  are  the 
salty  Jacobins  and  the  sugary  Jacobins.  That  one  is  a 
salty  Jacobin.  I  do  what  I  like  with  those.  They  have  to 
be  arrested  sometimes,  but  a  little  money  soon  manages 
that.  But  the  sugary  Jacobins  !  They  would  destroy 
twenty  governments  with  their  metaphysics." 

As  long  as  such  a  man  would  leave  the  choice  of 
language  to  Talleyrand  the  diplomatic  combination 
would  be  superb.  They  got  quickly  to  work.  The 
year  1799  had  hardly  closed,  London  was  still  wonder- 
ing what  this  new  phase  of  French  politics  portended, 
when  George  III.  received  an  edifying  invitation  from 
the  First  Consul  to  entertain  a  project  of  peace.  In 
flawless  and  dignified  language  he  was  urged  to  reflect 
before  plunging  Europe  once  more  into  the  horrors  of 
war.  "  The  fate  of  all  civilised  nations,"  the  letter 
concluded,  "  cries  for  the  termination  of  a  war  that 
embraces  the  whole  world."      Pitt  replied — or,  rather, 


From  an  engraving,  after  the  picture  ,j  De... 
NAPOLEON. 


[p.  182. 


Mar  an&  H)ipIotnac\^  183 

sent  a  note  to  Talleyrand  at  the  Foreign  Office — that 
England  saw  no  guarantee  of  stability  in  French  policy 
until  the  legitimate  ruler  of  the  country  was  restored. 
It  is  generally  agreed  that  this  was  an  egregious  blunder, 
an  arrogant  and  tactless  attempt  to  dictate  to  the  French 
nation.  It  was,  at  all  events,  immediately  recognised 
as  such  in  France,  and  the  people  were  more  than 
reconciled  to  a  continuation  of  the  war  with  England. 
Talleyrand  gravely  enquired  of  Lord  Grenville  what 
England  would  say  to  a  proposal  to  restore  the  Stuarts. 
Napoleon  had  written  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same 
vein  to  the  Emperor  of  Austria.  "A  stranger  to  every 
sentiment  of  vain  glory,  my  first  desire  is  to  arrest  the 
shedding  of  blood."  Austria  replied  to  Talleyrand,  as 
England  had  done,  though  less  offensively,  asking  for 
guarantees  of  stability.  The  reply  to  Austria  indicates 
clearly  enough  that,  as  Talleyrand  writes,  Napoleon  did 
not  want  peace.  They  were  asked  to  take  the  Treaty  of 
Campo  Formio  (framed  when  Austria  was  in  a  much 
worse  position)  as  the  base  of  negotiation. 

In  both  cases  the  correspondence  soon  came  to  a 
futile  close.  Napoleon  had  reached  the  steps  of  the 
throne  as  a  military  commander,  and  new  victories  would 
at  least  sustain  his  prestige.  Moreover,  the  financial 
condition  of  France  was  very  low,  and  Napoleon  had  had 
experience  of  the  precuniary  value  of  victorious  warfare. 
His  letters  and  the  first  replies  (ignoring  his  official 
position)  strengthened  his  support  in  the  country,  and  in 
fact,    as    Talleyrand    observes,   made    him     out    to    be 


i84  ZraUe^ran& 

"something  of  a  statesman."  He  turned  cheerfully  to 
the  rest  of  his  diplomatic  task  before  proceeding  to  face 
Austria.  By  tactful  action  in  the  western  provinces  he 
put  an  end  to  the  civil  war  there,  induced  the  Vendean 
leaders  to  come  to  Paris,  and  actually  attached  some  of 
them  to  his  service.  The  next  important  step  was  to 
detach  Russia  from  Austria,  secure  the  neutrality  of,  if 
not  an  alliance  with,  Prussia,  and  have  a  good  under- 
standing with  Spain.  The  King  of  Prussia  was  not 
unwilling  to  see  France  and  Austria  exhaust  themselves 
in  a  long  conflict,  while  he  himself  could  continue  in 
peace  to  strengthen  his  finances  and  his  army.  Duroc 
was  sent  to  inform  him  of  the  change  of  Government  in 
France,  and  soon  afterwards  Talleyrand  sent  his  friend 
General  Beurnonville,  an  enemy  of  Austria,  to  fill  the 
embassy  at  Berlin.  Through  Prussia  an  attempt  was 
to  be  made  to  reach  the  Tsar.  Very  soon  Prussia  ceased 
to  talk  of  the  Rhine  provinces,  and  reported  that  the 
opposition  to  France  at  St.  Petersburg  was  relaxing. 
Napoleon  suspected  that  Prussia  was  maintaining  too 
long  the  profitable  role  of  mediator,  and  urged  a  direct 
appeal  to  Russia.  Hearing  that  the  Tsar  had  seriously 
quarrelled  with  Austria,  and  was  not  well  disposed 
towards  England,  he  collected  all  the  Russian  prisoners 
he  had,  re-clothed  them,  and  sent  them  home  with 
military  honours.  When  he  further  sent  the  sword  of 
La  Valette  to  the  Tsar  (who  had  been  appointed  Grand 
Master  of  the  Order  of  St.  John,  and  had  an  enthusiasm 
for  his  charge)  and   invited  him   to   take  possession   of 


imar  ant)  Diplomacy  185 

Malta  (then  very  precariously  held  by  the  French 
against  the  English),  the  Tsar  was  won. 

In  the  meantime  the  French  Minister  at  Madrid 
had  reported  on  the  situation  in  Spain.  A  boorish, 
thoughtless  king,  who  gave  the  slightest  possible  atten- 
tion to  public  affairs  :  a  spirited,  hard-working  queen, 
with  an  eye  for  Parisian  millinery  :  a  conceited  and 
incompetent  paramour  of  the  queen,  Godoy,  who  was  in 
reality  the  first  minister  of  the  country.  In  a  few  weeks 
cases  of  valuable  French  arms  were  on  their  way  to 
Godoy.  The  king,  innocent  of  the  vaguest  suspicion 
of  political  machinery,  desired  some  for  himself.  A 
splendid  assortment  was  at  once  dispatched  ;  and 
Citoyenne  Minette  was  sent  to  the  queen,  with  boxes  of 
exquisite  Parisian  costumes,  chosen  by  Josephine,  and 
with  diplomatic  instructions  from  Talleyrand  in  her 
pocket. 

By  the  beginning  of  May  Napoleon  was  ready  to 
open  the  campaign  against  Austria.  He  had  set  in 
motion  his  vast  plans  for  the  improvement  of  Paris  and 
the  country,  and  the  restoration  of  commerce,  education, 
justice,  and  order.  He  had  pacified  la  Vendee,  and  set 
free  the  troops  for  the  campaign  in  Italy.  Russia  was 
detached  from  the  coalition,  and  had  sent  an  ambassador 
to  Paris — a  man  with  whom  it  would  be  easy  to  deal, 
said  Talleyrand,  because  he  had  no  instructions,  and  was 
incensed  against  his  own  government.  Prussia  was  most 
benevolently  neutral.  Spain  seemed  to  have  entirely 
forgotten    Louis  XVI.     Leaving  Talleyrand  to  sustain 


1 86  'Q:aUeKHn& 

the  good  disposition  of  these  Powers,  Napoleon  set  out 
on  May  6th  for  Italy.  "What  we  want  now,"  said 
Talleyrand  to  him,  "  is  for  success  in  war  to  put  new 
life  into  the  department  of  peace." 

Within  six  weeks  came  the  news  of  the  victory  at 
Marengo.  By  July  3rd  Napoleon  was  back  in  the 
capital.  Austria  was  crushed,  Italy  won,  and  England 
isolated.  A  new  phase  of  diplomatic  work  had  now  to 
begin.  From  the  battle-field  Napoleon  had  written  to 
the  Austrian  Emperor.  The  Emperor  injudiciously  sent 
his  reply  by  the  same  messenger,  a  very  undiplomatic 
Austrian  soldier,  the  Count  St.  Julien,  who  followed 
Napoleon  to  Paris,  and  was  entrusted  to  Talleyrand  to 
deal  with.  He  had,  of  course,  no  power  whatever  to 
negotiate,  but  was  instructed  to  sound  the  French,  and 
only  say  sufficient  for  that  purpose  about  Austria's 
disposition.  Within  a  week  St.  Julien  signed  the 
preliminaries  of  a  treaty  with  France  that  bound  Austria 
to  close  her  ports  against  England  (with  whom  she  had 
signed  an  agreement  one  month  before).  The  inex- 
perienced soldier  had  asked  Talleyrand's  advice  as  to  the 
extent  of  his  powers,  and  Talleyrand  gravely  replied  that 
if  he  were  in  St.  Julien's  place  he  would  sign.  When 
Napoleon  heard  that  St.  Julien  was  disavowed  and  sent 
to  a  fortress,  and  the  negotiations  were  annulled,  he  said 
that  he  rather  expected  it,  but  merely  "  wanted  to  put 
the  Emperor  in  the  wrong  in  the  eyes  of  Europe."  He 
talked  of  renewing  hostilities,  but  Talleyrand  dissuaded 
him,  and  in  October  Count  Cobentzl  reached  Paris  for 


"QClar  an^  Diplomacy?  187 

the  serious  work  of  negotiation.  In  the  meantime  the 
effect  of  Marengo  was  visible  on  all  sides.  A  succession 
of  f^tes  brought  Paris  and  France  to  the  feet  of  the  First 
Consul.  Millions  were  sent  to  the  Treasury  from  the 
seat  of  war. 

Cobentzl  was  to  treat  with  Joseph  Bonaparte  at 
Lun^ville,  but  Napoleon  invited  him  to  pay  a  visit  to 
Paris  first.  On  the  evening  of  his  arrival  Talleyrand 
took  him  to  the  Tuileries.  Napoleon  had  prepared  the 
very  furniture  of  the  room  to  receive  him.  Cobentzl, 
with  distinct  recollection  of  the  violent  little  man  who 
had  smashed  his  porcelain  to  illustrate  how  he  would 
break  Austria,  found  himself  admitted  into  the  large 
room  on  the  ground  floor  where  Napoleon  worked. 
The  lustre  was  unlit.  One  small  lamp  shone  on  the  desk 
in  the  far  corner  where  Napoleon  sat,  and  Cobentzl  found, 
after  crossing  the  long  dark  room,  that  all  the  chairs  had 
been  removed  except  the  one  that  Napolen  used.  He 
was  nervous  and  uncomfortable,  while  Napoleon  con- 
ducted his  well-rehearsed  part  with  the  ease  of  a 
conqueror.  The  few  days  in  Paris  were  not  pleasant  to 
the  Austrian  envoy.  He  gladly  moved  to  Luneville  to 
treat  with  the  less  dramatic  and  less  violent  Joseph. 
Napoleon's  brother  had  already  been  used  in  the 
conclusion  of  a  treaty  with  the  United  States.  It  is 
absurd  to  say  that  Talleyrand  was  passed  over  in  these 
matters  for  personal  reasons.  Napoleon's  employment 
of  his  elder  brother,  who  had  no  mean  ability,  in  these 
high    affairs    of   State    requires     no    explanation.        On 


1 88  UalleKan& 

February  9th,  1801,  the  new  treaty  was  signed  at 
Luneville.  Austria  was  restricted  to  Venice  in  Italy, 
and  lost  the  Rhine  provinces  and  the  Netherlands. 
Talleyrand  did  little  more  than  conduct  the  corres- 
pondence between  the  two  brothers.  Count  Cobentzl 
had  made  every  effort  to  escape  a  rupture  with  England 
by  signing  a  separate  peace,  but  the  supervention  of  the 
victory  of  Hohenlinden  in  December  had  too  utterly 
enfeebled  his  country. 

An  event  had  occurred  in  December  in  connection 
with  which  Talleyrand  is  often  severely  censured.  An 
attempt  had  been  made  by  certain  chouans  to  blow  up 
the  First  Consul  as  he  went  to  the  opera.  Napoleon 
at  once  called  a  Council  of  State,  and  declared  it  was 
the  work  of  the  Jacobins.  Whatever  the  suspicions  of 
the  Councillors  were,  they  knew  that  Napoleon  was 
bent  on  making  this  a  pretext  for  a  severe  blow  at  the 
Terrorists,  and  they  said  nothing  when  a  number  of 
the  more  truculent  were  executed  and  deported  for  a 
crime  that  was  afterwards  found  to  be  the  work  of 
Royalists.  There  was  much  indignation  against  Fouche 
for  the  negligence  of  the  police.  Mr.  Holland  Rose 
says  that  "  if  we  may  credit  the  on  dit  of  Pasquier, 
Talleyrand  urged  the  execution  of  Fouch^."  We  may 
7iot  credit  the  on  dits  of  Pasquier  when  they  reflect  on 
Talleyrand  ;  and  such  a  suggestion  is  entirely  incon- 
sistent with  Talleyrand's  character.  It  seems  to  be 
stated  with  more  authority  (though  the  reports  are  not 
consistent)  that  Talleyrand — probably  at  the  instigation 


TXXav  an^  H)iplomac\>  189 

of  Napoleon — advocated  taking  action  on  a  senatus- 
consultum^  which  would  dispense  with  the  need  of  passing 
measures  through  the  less  complaisant  bodies.  Talley- 
rand said  at  the  time  that  it  was  necessary  to  give 
foreign  governments  one  of  those  guarantees  of  stability 
about  which  they  were  so  anxious.  There  were  few 
tears  shed  over  the  brutal  and  hasty  treatment  of  the 
remnant  of  the  Terrorists, 

In  those  early  years  Talleyrand  felt  a  lively  personal 
attachment  to  Napoleon.  "  The  sentiment  that  attaches 
me  to  you,"  he  writes,  "my  conviction  that  the  devotion 
of  my  life  to  your  destiny  and  to  the  grand  views  that 
inspire  you  is  not  without  effect  in  their  realisation,  have 
made  me  take  more  care  of  my  health  than  I  have  ever 
done  before."  Later,  when  Napoleon  had  rendered 
some  service  to  his  family  :  "  I  am  with  you  in  life  or 
death."  His  letters  up  to  1804  frequently  exhale  an 
odour  that  the  British  perception  would  class  as  that  of 
rank  flattery.  Making  due  allowance  for  the  exaggerated 
manners  of  the  day,  the  sentiment  seems  to  be  sincere. 
The  allusions  of  Napoleonists  in  later  years  to  "  an 
Auteuil  conspiracy  "  (where  Talleyrand  had  a  house) 
early  in  the  nineteenth  century  are  frivolous.  Talley- 
rand would,  no  doubt,  shudder  at  the  coarseness  of 
Napoleon's  language  at  times  and  cannot  have  been 
blind  to  his  ambition.  But  the  latter  coincided  as 
yet  with  the  interest  of  France,  and  the  former  was 
almost  obliterated  in  the  glare  of  his  genius.  When 
we  consider  the  vast   work    that    Napoleon    was    doing 


for  France,  and  the  very  probable  effect  a  restoration 
of  the  King  at  that  period  would  have  had,  we  feel 
that  Talleyrand  must  have  clung  to  him  with  real 
anxiety. 

On  the  other  hand.  Napoleon  would  take  care  to 
attach  to  his  person  and  cause  a  minister  of  the 
ability  of  Talleyrand.  To  the  end  of  his  career  he 
acknowledged  that  Talleyrand  had  no  equal  in  his 
work,  and  their  letters  show  that  "  foreign  ministry " 
was  taken  in  a  wide  sense.  Talleyrand  could  enter- 
tain returned  nobles  who  despised  the  thin  polish 
of  the  Tuileries,  as  well  as  play  with  a  St.  Julien, 
or  conciliate  Swiss  and  Italian  patriots.  To  one 
letter  Talleyrand  appends  a  list  of  the  ladies  at  his 
last  soriee  who  did  not  dance.  When  the  Spanish 
princes  came  to  Paris,  it  was  Talleyrand's  fete  at 
Neuilly  that  remained  in  their  memories  ;  it  was  at 
Neuilly  they  met  the  old  nobility  and  culture  of  France, 
and  enjoyed  the  most  brilliant  display  of  Parisian 
decorative  art.  When  Napoleon  wanted  to  have  himself 
appointed  President  of  the  Italian  Republic  it  was  Talley- 
rand he  sent  to  meet  the  450  stern  Italian  patriots  at 
Lyons,  who  would  not  venture  nearer  into  the  mesmeric 
circle  of  the  Tuileries.  Talleyrand  describes  the  state 
of  the  roads,  the  price  of  bread  and  the  feeling  of  the 
provincials,  as  he  travels  ;  selects  his  friend  Melzi  among 
the  deputies  to  "open  his  heart  to  "  ;  puts  before  them 
in  his  grave,  sententious  way  "  not  what  Napoleon 
desired,    but    what    it    was    expedient  for  the   Cisalpine 


TALI.KVKANl) 

(Under  Napoleon). 


[p.  190. 


Mar  an&  Diplomacy  191 

Republic  to  ask."*  When  Napoleon  and  Josephine 
arrived,  it  was  almost  superfluous  to  awe  the  Italians  with 
reviews  and  parades.  The  Constitution  was  accepted, 
and  the  Italian  branch  of  Napoleon's  empire  created. 
When,  in  the  summer  of  1801,  Spain  made  its  "  orange- 
war  "  on  Portugal,  instead  of  subjugating  it  as  Napoleon 
had  demanded,  the  First  Consul  sent  the  whole  of  the 
papers  to  Talleyrand  who  was  at  the  baths  of  Bourbon 
I'Archambault.  "  I  fear  my  advice  has  a  smack  of  the 
douche  and  cold  bath  about  it,"  says  Talleyrand  in 
reply  ;  but  his  moderate  and  judicious  scheme  saved  the 
angry  Napoleon  from  a  serious  blunder.  The  news 
of  Spain's  interested  failure  to  close  Portugal  against 
England  had  come  to  Napoleon  in  the  midst  of  his 
negotiation  for  peace  with  London,  and  he  talked  of 
making  war  on  Spain.  Talleyrand  urged  the  more 
refined  punishment  of  disposing  of  Trinidad  to  England, 
sending  Lucien  (the  Madrid  ambassador)  on  a  long  visit 
to  Cadiz,  and  of  generally  "  wasting  time  at  Madrid 
and  pushing  things  on  at  London." 

Peace  with  England  was,  in  fact,  the  next  measure 
that  the  interest  of  France  demanded.     In  March,  1801, 

•  Lady  Blennerhassett  misses  the  subtlety  of  the  distinction  when  she 
suggests  that  Talleyrand  attempted  to  play  a  double  game  with  Napoleon 
on  this  occasion.  Compare  Mr.  Holland  Rose's  version :  "  Talleyrand 
took  the  most  unscrupulous  care  that  the  affair  of  the  Presidency  should 
be  judiciously  settled."  Standing  between  the  two  I  should  say  he  took 
most  "  scrupulous  care "  to  have  Napoleon's  wish  realised.  The  full 
passage  in  the  memoirs  runs :  "  Je  m'ouvris  i  Melzi,  non  pas  sur  ce  que 
le  Premier  Consul  desirait,  mais  sur  ce  qu'il  fallait  que  la  Republiquc 
Cisalpine  demandat.  En  peu  de  jours  je  parvins  d  mon  but.  Au  moment 
que  Bonaparte  arriva  a  Lyons,  tout  etait  prepar(i,  &c." 


192  trallei^ranb 

overtures  were  made  from  England.  Pitt  had  fallen 
over  the  Catholic  Emancipation  proposals,  and  the  new 
ministry  under  Addington  desired  to  close  the  war. 
Now  that  Napoleon  had  crushed  Austria,  cajoled  Spain, 
and  conciliated  Russia,  he  would  prefer  to  attempt  a 
blow  at  his  great  enemy,  but  the  news  from  abroad 
moderated  his  ambition.  From  St.  Petersburg  came 
the  announcement  that  the  Tsar  had  "  died  of 
apoplexy."  He  had  been  murdered  in  a  palace-con- 
spiracy on  March  23rd.  Napoleon  vented  his  feelings 
in  the  customary  rhetoric.  Talleyrand  lifted  his  eye- 
brows and  said,  "  Apoplexy  again  ?  It  is  time  they 
invented  a  new  disease  in  Russia."  Immediately  after- 
wards came  the  report  of  the  English  victory  at 
Copenhagen,  and  the  detachment  of  Denmark  ;  and  about 
the  same  time  bad  news  reached  Paris  from  Egypt. 
Shortly  afterwards  Bonaparte  is  described  by  Stapfer  as 
saying  to  the  British  Ambassador  at  Paris  :  "  There  are  only 
two  nations  in  the  world,  England  and  France.  Civilisa- 
tion would  perish  without  them.  They  must  be  united." 
One  cannot  claim  that  Talleyrand  did  much  more 
than  clerical  work  in  the  nego*"\.Lions  that  led  to  the 
Peace  of  Amiens,  though  he  entered  into  it  with  more 
than  usual  ardour.  Napoleon's  temporary  and  insincere 
cry  for  a  peaceful  co-operation  of  the  Mistress  of  the 
Sea  and  the  Mistress  of  the  Land  expressed  Talleyrand's 
habitual     feeling*.      He     did     desire    to     see    a    naval 

*  Yet  M.  Olivier,  in  his  attack  on  Talleyrand  {Revue  des  Deux  Mondes, 
September,  1894),  complains  of  him  deserting  the  English  Alliance  under 
Napoleon. 


Mar  an&  H)iplomacs  193 

supremacy  of  France  in  the  Mediterranean,  but  he 
would  leave  the  high  seas  to  England,  with  a  hope  that 
free  trade  would  still  favour  France's  commerce  and 
colonising  adventures.  It  was,  therefore,  with  a  real 
sense  of  triumph  that  he  saw  France  conclude  a  most 
advantageous  peace  at  a  moment  when  a  change  of 
policy  seemed  possible  in  Russia.  Joseph  Bonaparte 
again  conducted  the  negotiations.  The  preliminaries 
were  signed  on  October  ist,  1801,  and  the  Treaty  of 
Amiens  was  ratified  on  March  27th.  England  had 
imprudently  relied  on  certain  verbal  promises  of  Otto 
in  signing  the  preliminaries,  and  these  were,  of  course, 
disavowed  by  Talleyrand.  "  Make  plenty  of  promises 
but  put  nothing  on  paper,"  is  a  very  frequent  charge 
from  him  and  Napoleon  to  envoys.  The  integrity  of 
of  Portugal  was  guaranteed.  Egypt  was  assigned  to  the 
Turks,  and  Malta  to  the  Knights  of  St.  John.  France 
gave  to  England  the  islands  of  Trinidad  and  Ceylon 
(which  did  not  belong  to  her),  and  obtained  recognition 
of  her  extension  into  Italy  and  Germany.  The  diplo- 
matic reputation  of  the  Bonapartes  and  Talleyrand  rose 
to  a  great  height  at  Paris,  where  the  advantages  gained 
were  discussed  with  astonishment.  As  Mr.  Rose  puts 
it  :  "  With  three  exceptions  England  had  given  way  on 
every  point  of  importance  since  the  first  declaration  of 
her  claims." 

Towards  the  close  of  March  Talleyrand  presented 
himself  to  Napoleon  one  morning  for  the  usual  dis- 
cussion of  business.     When   it  was  all  over  he  calmly 

13 


194  XTalie^rant) 

produced  the  Treaty  of  Amiens  !      But  he  was  far  from 
insensible  of  the  height  to  which  France  had  risen  since 
the  end  of  1799.     The  flood  of  allied  armies  that  had 
dashed   against   her   frontiers   for   seven   or   eight   years 
had  now  ebbed  impotently  away.     Her  territory  reached 
to   more  natural  boundaries,  and  her  influence  was  felt 
far   beyond   them — in   Holland,   Germany,  Switzerland, 
Italy  and   Spain.     There   seemed  some  hope  at  last  ot 
that  internal  organisation  which  France  so  sorely  needed. 
And  Bonaparte's   ideal   went   very  largely  on   the  lines 
of  Talleyrand's   own   schemes.      His   great   address   on 
education   was   exhumed ;    his   financial    proposals   were 
followed    more    than    once    in   the   restoration   of  fiscal 
health  to  the  country.     Nor  would  Talleyrand  have  any 
sympathy  with  the  opposition  to  Napoleon's  creation  of 
the  Legion  of  Honour.     "Toys!"  said  Napoleon,  when 
someone  spoke  lightly  of  his   distribution  of  ribands  : 
"Well,  you    keep    men   in    order  with   toys."      It  was 
a    not    unhappy    mean     between     the    old      hereditary 
gradation     of     society,     with      its     demoralising     and 
irritating     narrowness,    and    the     crude    "  equality "    of 
the  Revolution. 

When,  therefore,  the  proposal  of  a  life  Consulship 
was  put  before  Paris  by  Napoleon's  instruments,  Talley- 
rand had  no  reason  to  demur  to  it.  The  benevolent  despot 
was  his  ideal  of  government  for  France.  Besides,  who 
could  succeed  Napoleon  ^  Who  else  could  give  form 
and  substance  to  the  fair  vision  of  France  that  had 
arisen  before  the  minds  of  thoughtful  men  ?     To  talk 


Mar  an&  ©iplomac^  195 

of  Talleyrand  "  deserting  "  the  principles  of  the 
Revolution  which  he  had  embraced  is  mere  verbiage. 
He  had  never  believed  that  pure  democracy  would  be 
permanent  or  practicable  in  an  uneducated  nation. 
There  did  not  seem  to  him  on  that  account  any  reason 
why  he  should  sit  idly  beyond  the  frontiers,  living  on 
an  English  pension,  until  others  would  lead  France  again 
into  the  paths  of  destiny.  So  when  Cambaceres  hinted 
that  the  work  of  the  First  Consul  merited  a  peculiar 
recognition,  he  felt  no  repugnance.  The  obsequious 
Senate  proposed  a  Consulship  for  ten  years,  and 
Napoleon  disdainfully  ignored  it.  Then  the  idea  of  a 
life-Consulship  was  put  to  the  country  in  a  plebiscite, 
and  carried  by  an  imposing  majority. 

In  the  long  and  complete  negotiations  that  followed 
the  peace  Talleyrand  was  very  active.  His  detractors 
had  the  alternative  of  ignoring  his  action  altogether, 
and  reducing  him  to  the  inglorious  rank  of  first  clerk  of 
the  Foreign  Office,  or  of  assigning  to  him  a  very 
considerable  activity  with  a  proportionate  "corruption." 
The  truth  is  that  during  1 802-3  Talleyrand  was  very 
busy,  and  his  work  was  lucrative.  Once  more,  however, 
there  is  no  charge  that  he  sold  the  interest  of  France 
or  of  peace.  In  those  last  days  of  the  buccaneering 
period  the  great  Powers  regarded  helpless  little  States  as 
a  providential  means  of  compensating  each  other.  Poland 
had  been  coldly  dismembered.  Turkey  in  Europe  was 
freely  subjected  to  plans,  as  it  still  is.  Holland,  Hanover, 
and  a  score  of  other  places  were  pawns  on  the  board.     It 


was  understood  that  after  the  peace  the  possesssions  of 
the  ecclesiastical  princes  on  the  Rhine  should  be  put  on 
the  market.  The  hotel  of  the  Foreign  Minister  at 
Paris  was  besieged  with  princes  and  their  envoys.  Baron 
von  Gagern  tells  how  he  saw  Luchesini,  Cobentzl,  and 
others  playing  with  Talleyrand's  adopted  daughter, 
Charlotte,  and  her  lap-dog. 

Prussia  was  the  first  to  be  rewarded  for  her 
benevolent  neutrality  and  her  silence  in  view  of  the 
invasion  of  Italy.  Bavaria,  Wurtemberg,  Hesse,  Baden, 
and  the  House  of  Orange  were  indemnified  out  of  ecclesi- 
astical property.  Vienna  saw  its  legendary  "  empire  " 
break  up  without  the  power  of  murmuring.  Austria 
itself  and  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  absorbed  more 
of  the  ecclesiastical  domains.  The  cession  of  the  left 
bank  of  the  Rhine  to  France  had  created  the  need  for 
indemnities.  France,  with  the  ready  consent  of  Europe, 
covered  her  aggression  by  dividing  the  right  bank 
among  the  dispossessed  princes  and  the  Powers.  At 
the  Hotel  Galiffet  and  at  St.  Cloud  the  map  of  Europe 
was  assiduously  used.  Little  squares  of  territory  with 
few  guns  and  troops  changed  colour  rapidly.  There 
were  believed  to  be  men  and  women  in  them. 

Then  there  were  the  southern  odd  parts  of  the  map 
to  be  settled.  Switzerland  had  invited  the  interference 
of  a  strong  hand  by  her  constant  anarchy.  Napoleon 
was  not  unwilling  to  play  the  part  of  mediator,  and  clip 
off  the  province  containing  the  road  to  Italy.  The 
sturdy    Swiss    patriot,    Stapfer,    has    left    us    the    long 


Mar  aiiD  Biplomacp  197 

correspondence  with  which  he  reported  to  his  authorities 
the  dreary  two  years  he  spent  at  Paris.  In  one  of  his 
letters  he  says  to  Talleyrand  :  "  I  shall  feel  gratified  and 
honoured  throughout  life  that  I  have  been  in  touch  with 
you  who  have  brought  the  light  and  the  urbanity  of 
the  old  regime  into  the  new,  and  who  have  proved  that 
all  the  results  of  social  advance  and  of  the  culture  of  the 
first  ranks  of  society  may  be  completely  reconciled  with 
democratic  principles."  It  is  just  to  add  that  this  is  a 
prelude  to  a  very  solid  "  but."  However,  Stapfer 
acknowledged  in  the  end  that  Napoleon's  mediation  in 
Switzerland  had  done  good.  Luchesini  tells  us  that 
when  Napoleon  asked  Talleyrand  to  secure  his  nomina- 
tion to  the  presidency  of  the  Swiss  Republic,  as  he  had 
done  with  the  Italians  at  Lyons,  the  Foreign  Minister  at 
once  threatened  to  resign.  Piedmont  had  been  incor- 
porated as  a  French  province  by  a  senatus  consultum  in 
September.  Genoa  and  Lucca  had  been  granted 
"  constitutions."  Elba  had  sent  three  deputies  to  Paris, 
where  they  were  entertained  as  princes  and  given  a 
douceur  of  3,000  francs  each  ;  and  Elba  was  incorporated 
into  the  growing  empire. 

In  two  years  the  Foreign  Office  had  negotiated 
treaties  with  Austria,  Russia,  Prussia,  Bavaria  and 
England,  redistributed  all  the  small  principalities  of  the 
Rhine  valley,  and  prepared  constitutions  for  Lucca, 
Genoa,  Elba,  Piedmont  and  Switzerland.  Many 
princes,  provinces  and  free  towns  gained  by  the  changes : 
many  escaped   losses   that   seemed   only  too  imminent  : 


many  lost  less  than  they  might  have  done.  It  is  prob- 
able enough  that  Talleyrand  accepted  from  these  sums  of 
money  that  were  collectively  respectable.  A  few  cases 
are  put  on  reliable  record.  There  is  not  the  least  reason 
to  doubt  that  in  most  cases  of  advantage  conferred  the 
Foreign  Minister  was  ready  to  receive  money.  He 
freely  expressed  his  disposition.  Cadeau  diplomatique 
was  a  familiar  and  not  dishonourable  phrase  of  the  day. 
"  I  have  given  nothing  to  St.  Julien,"  Talleyrand  wrote 
to  Napoleon,  "  because  all  the  Directory  jewellery  is  out 
of  date."  On  another  occasion  he  urges  Napoleon  to 
give  a  substantial  sum  of  money  to  the  Spanish  Minister. 
No  doubt,  the  present  usually  took  the  form  of  a  piece 
of  jewellery  worth  money.  "Talleyrand  preferred  cash," 
says  von  Gagern,  indulgently.  It  saved  trouble.  When 
we  regard  the  enormous  quantity  of  negotiations  and 
settlements  thrown  on  Talleyrand  by  Napoleon's  plans, 
it  is  difficult  to  feel  surprise  that  he  made  some  millions 
of  francs.  His  action  does  not  invite  our  admiration, 
but  we  may  bear  in  mind  that  in  not  a  single  case  is  he 
known  to  have  strained  or  deserted  his  duty  for  money, 
and  that  more  than  half  the  specific  charges  against  him 
will  not  sustain  examination. 

To  complete  the  picture  of  the  extraordinary 
activity  of  Napoleon  and  Talleyrand  at  this  time  we 
must  notice  its  range  beyond  Europe.  Treaties  were 
concluded  with  Turkey,  Algeria  and  Tunis.  Napoleon's 
mind  found  time  to  interest  itself  in  Australia,  India, 
America    and    the    West   Indies.       After    the    peace    of 


Mar  an^  Diplomacv^  199 

Amiens  he  took  up  the  idea  of  colonies  as  "  safety 
valves  "  for  the  over-strained  and  over-populated  nation 
which  Talleyrand  had  put  forward  under  the  Directory. 
But  Talleyrand  seems  to  have  been  little  more  than  a 
clerk  in  the  not  very  honourable  pursuit  of  this  plan. 
Napoleon  sent  out  his  ill-fated  army  to  St.  Domingo 
with  a  message  to  Toussaint  I'Ouverture  that  it  was 
coming  to  help  him.  At  the  same  time  he  directed 
Talleyrand  to  inform  England  that  it  was  going  to 
destroy  the  native  government,  and  hint  that  it  might 
restore  the  slave  trade  ;  while  Bruix  and  others  were 
pointing  out  to  the  dazed  new  democracy  in  France 
that  slavery  had  been  fully  recognised  by  those 
admirable  models  of  theirs,  the  "free  peoples  of 
antiquity."  In  1801  he  made  Talleyrand  assure  Spain 
that  Louisiana,  which  Spain  ceded  to  him,  would  never 
be  given  to  a  third  Power.  It  is  on  record  that 
Talleyrand  firmly  opposed  him  when  he  unscrupulously 
sold  it  to  the  United  States  two  years  later.  Expeditions 
to  India  and  to  Australia  complete  the  gigantic 
programme  of  their  activity,  save  for  the  important 
work  of  reconciliation  with  Catholicism  which  may  open 
a  new  chapter. 


CHAPTER    XI 

THE    RESTORATION    OF    RELIGION 

Napoleon's  imperial  vision  included  in  its  first  vague 
outline  the  restoration  of  the  Church  in  France  and  the 
establishment  of  good  relations  with  Rome.  The  sharp- 
ness of  his  earlier  antagonism  to  religion  was  worn  down 
by  his  experience  and  his  political  requirements.  Let 
the  old  clergy  overrun  the  provinces  of  France  again, 
and  they  would  soon  exorcise  them  of  their  superficial 
Jacobinism.  He  had  seen  in  the  East  how  despotism 
throve  where  it  had  the  support  of  religion.  The  new 
Pope,  Pius  VII,  should  be  disposed  to  make  a  bargain 
with  the  new  Charlemagne.  Not  only  did  France  seem 
still  to  drift  away  from  Catholicism,  but  the  spirit  of 
Gallicanism  had  passed  over  the  Rhine  and  the  Pyrenees. 
Alarming  rumours  of  the  founding  of  "  national  " 
churches  came  to  the  Vatican  from  Spain  and  South 
Germany  ;  while  Catholic  Austria  held  aloof  with  an 
open  cupidity  for  the  Pope's  temporal  dominions. 
So  the  Corsican  free  -  thinker  converted  himself  into 
"Charlemagne."  The  Pope  might  be  reminded  of  the 
spiritual  desolation  that  cried  for  his  spiritual  inter- 
vention in  France  ;  ultramontanism  could  be  made 
innocuous  Dy  the  simple  expedient  of  abolishing  the 
mountains,    and    making    a    Catholic   Constantinople  of 

200 


Zbc  IRestoration  ot  IReltoion  201 

Paris  ;  the  police  would  be  seconded  by  the  subtler 
gendarmery  of  the  clergy,  the  heads  of  which  would  be 
ingeniously  fitted  into  the  political  machinery  of  the 
country.  Before  Napoleon  left  Italy  (after  Marengo) 
he  sent  the  Bishop  of  Vercelli  to  the  Pope  with  a 
message  of  peace. 

Talleyrand  had  already  written  to  the  Vatican  in 
the  same  feeling,  at  the  direction  of  the  First  Consul. 
Mr.  Holland  Rose  and  many  other  writers  entirely 
misunderstand  Talleyrand's  share  in  the  work  of  reli- 
gious pacification,  because  they  have  a  quite  false  idea  of 
his  attitude  towards  the  Church.  I  interpret  the  negative 
evidence  to  mean  that  Talleyrand  was  agnostic  rather 
than  deistic,  in  spite  of  his  admiration  for  Voltaire  and 
his  dislike  of  Diderot  and  d'Holbach.  But  he  was  an 
agnostic  Liberal  statesman  of  a  type  familiar  in  France 
(and  many  other  countries)  down  to  our  own  time.  He 
never  attacked  or  ridiculed  religion.  He  believed  the 
Church  to  be  a  useful  agency  among  the  mass  of  the 
people,  provided  it  was  earnest  and  spiritual,  and  did 
not  meddle  with  politics  beyond  promising  eternal 
torment  to  the  more  violent  radicals.  Of  this  we  have 
evidence  enough  even  in  his  speeches  of  1 790-1 792. 
He  would  not  at  all  resent  Napoleon's  proposals,  if 
Napoleon  would  firmly  maintain  the  rights  of  the  con- 
stitutional clergy.  There  is  not  a  particle  of  evidence 
that   raises   any   difficulty   as   to   Talleyrand's   attitude.* 


*  Contrast  with  Mr.  Rose's  opinion  that  of  E.  Ollivier,  a  violent 
modern  critic  :  "  He  threw  himself  with  equal  zeal  into  the  negotiation  of 
the  Concordat." 


202  tral(epran& 

He  is  nowhere  found  with  the  angry  soldiers  and 
politicians  who  thought  the  revolution  had  made  a 
French  Church  an  anachronism,  and  who  filled  Paris 
with  fresh  murmurs  at  the  idea  of  a  Concordat. 

Towards  the  end  of  1 800,  Paris  had  a  new  fact 
to  proceed  on  in  its  cafes.  The  Vatican  had  sent 
Mgr.  Spina,  the  Papal  Nuncio  at  Florence,  to  confer 
with  Talleyrand  and  Napoleon.  The  sagacious  priest 
did  not  flaunt  his  purple,  merely  announcing  that  the 
Archbishop  of  Corinth  had  come  to  treat  with  Napoleon 
on  matters  concerning  the  administration  of  Rome.  But 
the  religious  controversy  had  revived  in  France,  and 
the  appearance  of  a  papal  envoy  fanned  the  flame.  The 
relaxation  of  the  laws  had  introduced  a  large  number 
of  the  emigrant  clergy,  and  these  contended  everywhere 
with  the  Constitutionalists  for  the  care  of  souls  and  of 
presbyteries.  The  confusion  was  increased  by  the 
Theophilanthropists,  who  claimed  the  sacred  edifices  of 
the  country  in  the  superior  name  of  virtue,  and  asked 
the  people  to  bow  to  their  august  abstractions.  After 
a  mass  they  would  decorate  Catholic  altars  with  flowers 
in  honour  of  morality,  and  they  showed  no  lack  of 
courage  in  defending  their  fair  ideals.  Philosophic 
deists  and  quick-witted  atheists  smiled  on  the  confusion. 
But  all  eyes  were  now  centred  on  the  pale  and  portly 
prelate  who  sat  in  long  conference  with  the  ex-bishop 
at  the  Foreign  Office. 

Mgr.  Spina  had  been  generally  directed  to  avoid 
the    excommunicated    apostates,   but    to    moderate    the 


Ubc  IRestoration  oX  IRelioion  203 

rigour  of  the  Canon  Law  when  "urbanity  "  demanded. 
"  Urbanity  "  clearly  involved  amiable  relations  with  Talley- 
rand, and  the  suave,  serious  tone  of  the  diplomatist  at 
once  disarmed  the  Italian.  Talleyrand  would  "  very  soon 
return  to  the  Church,"  Spina  wrote  to  Rome.  Napoleon, 
however,  had  another  agent  at  hand  for  this  negotiation. 
He  had  retained  the  Breton  priest,  Bernier,  at  Paris,  and 
now  used  him  as  a  foil  against  the  astute  Italian.  The 
Pope's  temporal  possessions,  the  Legations,  were  the 
central  difficulty  in  the  negotiations  that  followed. 
Pius  VII  was  pledged  to  work  for  their  restoration  ; 
Napoleon  had  no  intention  whatever  of  restoring  them. 
Talleyrand  clearly  stated  this  position,  and  then  allowed 
the  abbe  and  the  archbishop  to  expend  their  diplomatic 
talent  over  the  impasse  for  a  month  or  two.  At  last  a 
draft  ot  a  Concordat  was  submitted  to  Rome,  the  First 
Consul  sending  with  it  the  unexacting  but  precious 
present  of  the  wooden  statue  of  Our  Lady  of  Loretto, 
which  the  revolutionary  troops  had  brought  from  Italy, 
and  telling  his  envoy  to  "  treat  the  Pope  as  if  he  had 
200,000  soldiers."  It  was  an  original  standard  of 
spiritual  respect. 

But  Talleyrand's  interest  in  the  constitutional  clergy 
of  France  — Napoleon  is  reported  to  have  called  them  "  a 
pack  of  dishonourable  brigands  " — found  expression  in 
the  Concordat.  The  Pope  was  requested  to  secure  the 
resignation  of  the  orthodox  emigrant  bishops,  so  as  to 
begin  the  foundation  of  the  new  church  on  a  clear 
ground.     The  unhappy  Pope  was  forced  at  length  to  ask 


204  tTallepranb 

this  resignation,  and  the  emigrant  clergy  cast  off  all 
restraint,  and  a  good  deal  of  theology,  when  the  invitation 
reached  them.  While  forty-five  of  them  agreed  to  do  so 
a  large  number  sent  a  fiery  and  defiant  reply  to  the  Pope. 
Pamphlets  circulated  at  London  and  at  Rome  in  which 
priests  described  Pius  VII  as  a  Jew,  or  Judas,  and 
declared  it  to  be  blasphemy  to  mention  his  name  in  the 
mass.  The  prospects  of  Catholicism  in  England  had  to 
be  reassured  by  a  counter  fulmination  from  twenty -nine 
Irish  Catholic  Bishops  and  English  Vicars  Apostolic.  At 
the  same  time  the  Pope  was  told  that  he  must  sanction 
the  national  appropriation  of  the  estates  of  the  Church  in 
France.  "The  difficulties  you  raise,"  Talleyrand  wrote 
to  Rome,  "  are  imaginary.  The  Church  has  been 
stripped  of  her  possessions  in  every  age,  and  the 
despoilers  have  never  been  touched — -unless  weak."  And 
as  the  Vatican  still  lingered  over  these  formidable 
demands  Napoleon  angrily  summoned  Talleyrand, 
Bernier,  and  Spina  to  Malmaison,  formulated  his  ulti- 
matum, and  declared  that  if  Rome  did  not  comply  within 
five  days  he  would  throw  it  over  and  erect  a  national 
Church. 

On  the  fifth  day  the  Pope's  Secretary  of  State, 
Cardinal  Consalvi,  was  in  Paris.  He  had  left  Rome 
placarded  with  the  florid  denunciations  of  the  Pope  by 
the  emigrant  bishops  ;  he  found  Paris  holding  a  con- 
gress of  the  constitutional  bishops,  who  denounced  the 
Concordat  with  equally  lively  rhetoric  from  their  own 
point  of  view.     The  Pope  was   profoundly  dejected  and 


XTbe  IRestoration  of  IRelioton  205 

miserable  ;  the  First  Consul  was  radiantly  surveying 
the  universe  from  the  height  of  success  ;  Talleyrand 
was  wearying  of  the  futile  resistance  of  the  Romans. 
Consalvi  brought  every  weapon  from  the  diplomatic 
arsenal  ot  the  Vatican.  Thinking  he  understood 
Talleyrand,  he  said  to  him  :  "  People  make  me  out  to 
be  a  pietist.  I'm  nothing  of  the  kind.  I  like  pleasure 
as  well  as  anyone."  But  Talleyrand  did  not  admire 
Consalvi's  diplomacy.  After  a  few  days  he  sent  him  a 
final  draft  of  a  Concordat,  and  left  Paris  to  take  the 
waters  at  Bourbon  I'Archambault.  Mr.  Holland  Rose 
puts  it  that  "the  polite  scoffer,  the  bitter  foe  of  all 
clerical  claims,  found  it  desirable  to  take  the  baths  at  a 
distant  place,  and  left  the  threads  of  the  negotiation  in 
the  hands  of  two  men  who  were  equally  determined  to 
prevent  its  signature."  I  have  already  pointed  out 
that  Talleyrand  never  scoffed  at  religion,  and  was  not 
at  all  a  foe,  "  bitter  "  or  otherwise,  of  clerical  claims  of 
a  non-political  character.  Further,  Talleyrand  left 
Paris,  firstly,  because  it  was  his  custom  to  go  to  the 
baths  about  this  time,  and  secondly  because  he  wanted 
the  Concordat  signed  without  further  palaver.  As  a 
fact,  Consalvi  expressed  satisfaction  that  Talleyrand  was 
out  of  the  way  at  the  moment  of  signing.  Talleyrand, 
again,  was  bound  to  leave  his  functions  in  the  charge 
of  d'Hauterive,  his  second  in  command,  and  the  belief 
that  d'Hauterive  was  "  equally  determined  to  prevent 
signature  "  is  an  equally  unjust  inference  from  the 
mere  fact  of  his  being  an  ex-cleric.     In  fine,  the   story 


2o5  'C:aUe^ran& 

that  the  chiefs  of  the  Foreign  Office  tried  to  trick 
Consalvi  into  signing  a  draft  materially  differing  from 
the  one  they  had  given  him,  is  only  mentioned  by 
Consalvi,  and  has  been  gravely  questioned  by  some 
writers.* 

The  Concordat  was  signed  by  Consalvi  and  Joseph 
Bonaparte  on  the  night  of  July  15-16.  Consalvi 
admitted  to  his  friends  that  he  had  been  empowered  to 
make  even  greater  concessions  than  he  had  been  forced 
to  do,  and  attributed  his  comparative  success  to  the 
absence  of  Talleyrand.  But  before  he  left  Paris  Talley- 
rand returned  from  the  south,  and  at  once  pointed  out 
to  Napoleon  the  unsatisfactory  features  of  the  Concordat. 
The  chief  of  these  was  that  it  contained  no  recognition 
of  the  constitutional  clergy  or  of  the  married  and 
secularised  ex-priests.  Rome  was  just  as  eager  to  ignore 
or  punish  these  as  Talleyrand  was  to  defend  them  ;  and 
the  First  Consul  was  inclined  to  sacrifice  them  to  the 
general  agreement.  But  Talleyrand  insisted  on  a  recog- 
nition of  their  status  ;  it  is  in  this  connection  that 
Consalvi  describes  him  as  a  "  powerful  opponent,"  not 
with  the  implication  that  he  is  a  "  bitter  foe  "  of  clerical 
claims  generally.  Consalvi  again  fruitlessly  struggled 
against  the  Foreign  Minister.  On  August  29th  Talley- 
rand was  able  to  report  to  Napoleon  that  "  the  Holy  See 
had  sanctioned,  without  any  material  reserve,  the  results 
of  the  negotiations  of  its  ministers — had,  in   fact,  done 

*  See  M.  Crdtineau-Joly's  Bonaparte  et  le  Concordat. 


ITbc  IRestoratiou  of  IRellolon  207 

more,  as  it  had  given  the  name  of  bishops  and  arch- 
bishops to  the  titular  prelates  of  the  constitutional 
clergy."  He  had  threatened  that  France  would  not 
ratify  the  convention  if  the  Vatican  attempted  to  stigma- 
tise in  any  way  the  clergy  or  ex-clergy  of  the  country, 
but  he  permitted  it  the  luxury  of  referring  to  their  wives 
as  "corrupt  women,"  and  was  content  to  suppress,  as  far 
as  possible,  the  Brief  containing  the  phrase. 

The  Concordat  became  law  in  April,  1802.  The 
only  people  who  murmured  against  it  were,  says 
Talleyrand,  "  a  few  soldiers — very  brave  fellows,  but 
with  minds  too  narrow  to  admit  a  conception  of  that 
kind."  The  phrase  clearly  indicates  his  view  of  it. 
Broad-mindedness  and  a  desire  for  peaceful  social 
advance  recommended  the  measure.  It  put  an  end  to 
the  unseemly  squabble  over  churches  and  presbyteries, 
and  ended  the  ridiculous  confusion  of  the  Republicaji 
day  of  rest  (decadi — every  ten  days)  and  the  Sabbath.  It 
reconciled  the  Catholic  feeling  that  still  existed  in  the 
country  (though  this  is  sometimes  grossly  exaggerated) 
with  the  Napoleonic  regime.  Talleyrand  would  be  the 
last  to  wish  to  sacrifice  these  solid  advantages  to  a 
sentimental  rationalism.  He  is  one  of  the  chief  architects 
and  builders  of  the  Concordat. 

A  few  months  after  the  ratification  of  the  Concordat 
Talleyrand  was  "  secularised  "  by  the  Pope.  This 
procedure  has  somewhat  mystified  his  biographers,  and 
as  a  fact  it  was  a  mere  empty  form,  another  concession 
of    the    Vatican     to    the    perversity    of    the    age.     On 


2o8  ZTalle^ranb 

Catholic  principles  the  Pope  cannot  annul  the  priestly 
character  ;  he  may  release  the  priest  from  his  vow  of 
celibacy.  Pius  VII  affected  to  do  the  former,  but 
cleverly  refrained  from  doing  the  latter,  for  Talleyrand. 
His  letter,  dated  June  29th,  1802,  and  addressed  to 
"our  very  dear  son,"  ran  :  "We  were  overjoyed  at 
learning  of  your  ardent  desire  to  be  reconciled  with  us 
and  the  Catholic  Church.  Hence,  extending  our  fatherly 
love  to  you,  we  relieve  you,  in  the  fulness  of  our  power, 
from  the  bond  of  all  the  excommunications,  and  grant 
you  liberty  to  wear  secular  costume  and  to  administer  all 
civil  affairs,  whether  in  the  office  you  now  fill  or  in 
others  to  which  your  Government  may  call  you."  The 
statement  that  Talleyrand  thought  this  secularisation 
would  leave  him  free  to  marry,  and  had  asked  for  it,  is 
ridiculous.  The  Vatican  has  only  annulled  the  priestly 
vow  of  celibacy  twice  in  the  course  of  its  history,  though 
it  professes  to  have  full  power  to  do  so  in  any  case.  It 
was  Napoleon  who  asked  the  Pope  to  secularise 
Talleyrand.  Excommunications  sat  lightly  enough  on 
the  ex-bishop  ;  and  he  would,  no  doubt,  keenly  appre- 
ciate the  "  paternal  charity  "  of  the  Pope  in  "  recon- 
ciling" him  by  removing  his  excommunication  and 
gravely  admitting  him  to  secular  employment,  while 
carefully  refraining  from  noticing  his  notorious  domestic 
relations  and  his  infidelity. 

Napoleon,  apparently,  had  a  large  idea  of  the 
privileges  he  had  secured  for  Talleyrand,  and  he  pre- 
sently put  great  pressure  on  him  to  marry  Mme.  Grand. 


XTbe  IRcstoration  of  IReliaion  209 

Talleyrand  does  not  seem  to  have  cared  at  all  for 
going  through  the  meaningless  ceremony.  He  knew 
he  was  not  free  to  marry  from  the  ecclesiastical  point  of 
view,  and  a  civil  contract  would  not  in  any  case  alter  his 
relations  to  the  lady  of  his  choice.  However,  Mme. 
Grand  felt  that  the  form  of  marriage  would  improve  her 
position.  The  etiquette  of  the  Tuileries  was  developing 
once  more.  There  was,  one  observer  says,  "  not  exactly 
a  Court,  but  no  longer  a  camp."  She  appealed  to 
Napoleon  through  Josephine,  and  Talleyrand  was  forced 
to  go  through  the  ceremony  of  marriage.  The  civil 
function  was  performed  on  September  loth,  1803,  and 
the  Church  graciously  blessed  the  diplomatic  marriage 
on  the  following  day.  In  the  spiteful  mood  of  later 
years  Napoleon  spoke  of  the  marriage  he  had  himself 
brought  about  as  a  "a  triumph  of  immorality."  He 
seems  to  have  discovered  at  St.  Helena  that  in  Catholic 
eyes  a  priest  is  "  a  priest  for  ever  "  ;  and  he  contrives  to 
forget  that  Mme.  Grand  was  not  a  "  married  woman  " 
but  a  divorcee*  The  story  runs  that  the  first  time  she 
appeared  at  a  levee  after  the  marriage  the  Emperor 
thought  fit  to  express  a  hope  that  "  the  good  conduct  of 
Citoyenne  Talleyrand  would  help  them  to  forget  the 
escapades  of  Mme.  Grand."  She  replied  that,  with 
the  example  of  Citoyenne  Bonaparte  before  her,  she 
would  do  her  best. 

By  this  time  the  heavy  diplomatic  work  that  followed 
the  treaties  of  Luneville  and  Amiens  was  over,  and  the 

•  As  described  in  the  civil  registry  of  marriage  at  the  time. 

14 


210  XTalle^rant) 

German  princes  had  ceased  (for  the  time)  to  struggle  for 
the  debris  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire.  Talleyrand 
found  himself  in  a  position  of  great  wealth,  and  with  one 
or  two  years  of  comparative  leisure.  His  official 
residence,  a  large  mansion  built  under  the  old  regime  by 
a  rich  colonist,  was  the  Hotel  Galiffet  in  the  Rue 
St.  Dominique.  He  had  wandered  far  since  the  day 
when  he  began  his  public  life  in  a  small  house  of  the 
same  street  in  1778,  but  the  tense  experiences  of  those 
fifteen  years  had  made  little  change  in  him.  The 
Revolution  and  the  exile  might  never  have  occurred. 
His  principles  were  unchanged,  his  wit  as  keen  as  ever, 
his  light  cynicism  not  a  shade  less  amiable,  his  fine  taste 
for  books,  for  food,  or  for  society  unimpaired.  Lytton 
describes  him  at  this  time  reclining,  day  by  day,  on  a 
couch  near  the  fire  in  his  salon*  and  entertaining  a 
brilliant  circle  of  visitors.  His  chief  Parisian  friends  at 
this  time  were  Montrond,  the  Due  de  Laval,  Sainte- 
Foix,  General  Duroc,  Colonel  Beauharnais,  Louis, 
Dalberg,  and  others  of  the  wittier  and  more  cultured 
men  of  the  time.  The  dress  and  manners  of  the 
Revolution  were  now  never  seen  in  polite  society.  The 
artificial  fraternity  of  the  past,  with  its  "thou"  and 
"  citizen,"  was  abandoned.  Men  ceased  to  be  brothers 
and  became  friends  once  more.     The  long  military  coat 

*  The  habit  is,  of  course,  pointed  to  as  proof  of  the  indolence  of  the 
legendary  Talleyrand.  The  more  candid  observer  would  be  disposed  to 
refer  it  to  his  lameness.  We  know  that  Talleyrand  had  to  keep  a  heavy 
ironwork  about  his  foot  and  wear  a  heavy  thick-soled  boot.  One  can 
easily  understand  his  preference  for  lying  in  bed  or  on  a  couch. 


TALLEYRAND 

(Under  Napoleon) 


[p.  2IO 


TLbc  IResitoration  of  IRcUoiou  211 

and  high  boots  and  the  tricolor  were  kept  in  the  camp. 
The  old  life  was  being  silently  restored.  Supple,  graceful 
figures  in  Bourbon  coats,  with  light  rapiers  dangling,  and 
long  silk  hose  and  buckled  shoes,  trod  the  polished  floors 
with  confidence.  Nature  had  been  thrust  out  with  a  fork. 
Talleyrand's  hotel  was  the  chief  centre  of  the 
revival.  People  of  taste  went  to  the  Tuileries  as  they 
went  to  church  or  to  business.  There  was  little  gaiety 
there.  Napoleon,  who  certainly  could  talk  well,  was 
habitually  gloomy  and  retired  ;  and  one  had  an  uneasy 
consciousness  of  his  temper  and  his  command  of  language 
that  is  not  found  in  the  dictionary.  His  family  and  the 
family  of  his  wife  were  already  in  bitter  antagonism 
around  him  as  to  the  succession  to  the  coming  empire. 
Josephine  had  displayed,  possibly  even  felt,  a  tardy 
devotion  to  him  as  his  genius  fully  revealed  itself,  but 
she  had  now  herself  to  bemoan  an  infidelity  which  she 
conceived  in  the  most  sombre  colours  ;  and  Napoleon, 
with  proof  about  him  of  his  own  fertility,  bitterly  dwelt 
on  her  barrenness.  His  brothers  did  not  tend  to  relieve 
his  depression.  He  could  not  fondle  the  pretty  son  of 
Louis  but  the  latter  would  flash  forth  an  angry  suspicion 
of  an  incestuous  relation  to  Hortense.  Lucien  and 
Jerome  would  not  be  content  to  seduce,  but  must 
disgrace  the  family  by  marrying,  two  charming  nobodies. 
It  is  a  well  known  story  how  on  one  occasion,  when 
Napoleon  was  giving  a  sedate  family  party,  from  which 
Mme.  Tallien  and  other  lively  friends  of  Josephine  were 
excluded,  a  message  was  handed  to  the  First  Consul,  and 


212  xralle^ran& 

he  burst  forth  with  a  violent  and  inelegant  complaint  that 
"  Lucien  had  married  his  mistress  " — to  give  a  polite 
turn  to  the  phrase. 

At  Talleyrand's  house  there  was  neither  restraint 
nor  affectation.  Lord  Brougham  tells  us  that  "  nothing 
could  be  more  perfect  than  Talleyrand's  temper  and 
disposition  in  private  life."  Mme.  Remusat  affirms 
that  Talleyrand  had  quickly  regretted  his  choice,  but 
that  talkative  lady  did  not  love  Mme.  Talleyrand.  The 
malicious  biographers  are  generally  content  to  give  us 
piquant  stories  of  her  lack  of  culture.  One  of  the  chief 
of  these — the  protean  story  of  her  taking  Sir  George 
Robinson  for  Robinson  Crusoe,  or  Denou  for  the 
author  of  Defoe's  work — has  been  completely  dis- 
credited by  Pichot,  an  authority  on  legends.  There 
are  more  authentic,  but  less  interesting,  stories  of 
her  ignorance,  which  must  certainly  have  bored  Talley- 
rand at  times.  On  the  whole,  the  evidence  seems  to 
indicate— especially  on  its  negative  side — that  they  lived 
pleasantly  and  faithfully  together  for  many  years.  The 
wife  was,  unfortunately,  childless.  As  Talleyrand  deeply 
loved  children  this  must  have  been  a  source  of  great 
disappointment.  He  alleviated  it  by  adopting  the 
daughter  of  a  friend  who  had  died  in  England,  and 
children's  balls  were  frequently  given  at  his  hotel. 

It  was  not  unnatural  that  as  soon  as  Napoleon  felt 
his  conduct  and  person  to  be  secretly  assailed  with 
witticisms  and  criticisms  he  should  look  to  Talleyrand's 
hotel  for  the  chief  source.     There  was  so  much  in  his 


XTbe  IRestoration  of  IRcliolon  213 

melodramatic  poses  to  make  the  hated  Faubourg  St. 
Germain  smile.  Baron  von  Gagern  tells  us  of  the 
keen  rivalry  to  enter  Talleyrand's  circle.  Those  who 
had  the  entree  went  there  after  the  opera  at  night,  and 
played  whist  or  billiards  until  two  or  three  in  the 
morning.  "It  was,"  says  Lord  Brougham,  "a  lesson 
and  a  study,  as  well  as  a  marvel,  to  see  him  disconcert 
with  a  look  of  his  keen  eyes,  or  a  motion  of  his  chin, 
a  whole  piece  of  wordy  talk."  When  a  rumour  spread 
of  the  death  of  George  III,  a  Parisian  banker  came 
rather  impertinently  to  ask  his  opinion.  "Well,"  said 
Talleyrand,  gravely,  "  some  say  he  is  dead  and  some 
say  he  is  not.  I  may  tell  you  in  confidence  that  I  don't 
believe  either."  On  another  occasion  a  general  of  no 
great  culture  turned  up  late  for  dinner,  and  began  to 
explain  that  a  "  maudit  pekin "  had  detained  him. 
Talleyrand  asked  him  what  a  pekin  was.  He  replied 
that  it  was  a  camp-phrase  for  "  all  that  isn't  military." 
"  Oh  !  I  see,"  said  Talleyrand.  "  Just  as  we  call 
military  all  that  is  not  civil." 

Dulness  was  the  deadly  sin  at  the  Hotel  Galiffet. 
When  a  not  very  handsome  Englishman  was  boring  the 
company  one  day  with  a  long  description  of  the  charms 
of  his  mother,  Talleyrand  broke  in  at  the  first  gap  :  "  It 
must  have  been  your  father,  then,  who  was  not  very 
good-looking."  He  talked  little,  as  a  rule.  Sometimes 
he  would  sit  for  an  hour  without  speaking,  then  make 
a  short  and  brilliant  shot,  in  his  sepulchral  voice,  at 
something  that   had  been  said.      When   Chateaubriand, 


214  Ualle^ranb 

whom  he  very  much  despised,  had  published  his  "  Les 
Martyrs,"  a  friend  gave  Talleyrand  a  very  long  account 
of  the  plot  of  the  work,  concluding  with  the  remark  that 
the  heroes  were  "  thrown  to  the  beasts."  "  Like  the 
book,"  said  Talleyrand,  bitterly.  When  another  man 
observed  to  him  that  Fouche  had  a  great  contempt  for 
humanity,  he  said  :  "  Yes,  he  had  studied  himself  very 
carefully."  Another  had  the  imprudence  to  ask  him 
what  had  passed  at  a  Council  he  had  attended.  "  Three 
hours,"  said  Talleyrand.  When  he  heard  that  Semon- 
ville,  for  whom  he  had  little  respect,  was  getting  fat,  he 
pretended  to  be  mystified,  and  explained  that  he  "  did 
not  see  how  it  was  to  Semonville's  interest  to  get  stout." 
It  was  of  the  same  man  that  he  afterwards  said,  when 
Semonville  had  become  a  senator,  and  someone  was 
urging  that  "  there  were  at  all  events  consciences  in  the 
Senate  "  ;  "  Oh  !  yes.  Semonville  alone  has  at  least 
two."  There  was  hardly  a  prominent  person  in  Paris 
who  did  not  go  about  with  one  or  two  of  these  barbs  in 
him.  It  is  well  to  remember  them  when  we  read  their 
comments  on  him  in  their  memoirs.  Sometimes  the 
quips  actually  came  to  be  applied  to  himself.  A  friend, 
rather  a  roui^  met  him  one  day,  and  complained  that  he 
felt  "infernal  pains"  (douleurs  d'enfer).  "Already.''" 
said  Talleyrand.  It  was  pretended  in  later  years  that 
this  pretty  dialogue  passed  between  himself  and  Louis 
Philippe,  when  he  was  dying.  But  Talleyrand  could 
say  sweet  things  as  well  as  bitter  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment.    It  is  well  known  how,  when  he  was  challenged 


XTbe  IRestoration  ot  IReliaion  215 

to  say  which  of  two  ladies  at  table  (Mme.  de  Stael  and 
Mme.  Grand  or  another)  he  would  rescue  from  the 
water  first,  he  turned  to  one  and  said  :  "  You  are  able 
to  swim."  So  when  Napoleon  asked  him  very  pointedly 
how  he  became  rich:  "I  bought  stock  on  the  i8th 
Brumaire,  and  sold  it  the  next  day."  On  another 
occasion,  when  Napoleon  told  him  he  was  removing  his 
study  to  a  higher  storey,  he  at  once  replied  :  "Naturally, 
you  are  bound  to  live  high  up." 

His  attitude  towards  the  First  Consul  remained 
loyal  and  cordial  in  spite  of  the  occasional  strain  put  on 
it.  1  will  resume  in  the  next  chapter  the  thread  of  his 
official  duties,  and  will  deal  here  with  two  important 
events  that  occurred  before  war  again  broke  out. 
The  first  is  the  murder  of  the  Due  d'Enghien,  in 
connection  with  which  Talleyrand  has  been  judged  so 
severely. 

There  is  at  this  hour  of  the  day,  and  in  default  of 
fresh  discoveries  of  documents,  nothing  new  to  be  said 
about  the  pitiful  tragedy  of  1 804.  Happily,  the  progress 
of  research  on  the  matter  has  tended  to  exculpate  Talley- 
rand. Writers  so  wholly  devoid  of  sympathy  with  him 
as  Mr.  Holland  Rose  now  say  that  the  allegations  against 
him  are  "  sufficiently  disposed  of  by  the  ex-Emperor's 
will."  Napoleon  with  his  last  words  took  full  responsi- 
bility for  the  tragedy,  and  declared  he  would  do  it  again 
in  similar  circumstances.  The  only  question  is  how  far 
Talleyrand  lent  assistance  in  the  execution  of  Napoleon's 
purpose. 


2i6  X^aIle^ran^ 

By  the  end  of  1803  the  First  Consul  was  driven 
by  his  dread  of  plots  into  a  condition  that  excited 
the  horror  of  beholders.  Spies  and  guards  constantly 
surrounded  him.  Paroxysms  of  rage  by  day  and 
sleepless  nights  wore  his  nerves  and  embittered  his  spirit. 
The  failure  of  the  plot  of  Georges  and  Pichegru  only 
served  to  exasperate  him  against  the  Royalist  plotters, 
and  he  swore  to  execute  the  first  Bourbon  that  fell  into 
his  hands.  When,  therefore,  a  rumour  spread  that  a 
Bourbon  prince  had  been  in  Paris  in  connection  with  the 
plot  to  assassinate  him,  and  the  Due  d'Enghien,  living 
only  a  few  miles  beyond  the  frontier,  was  the  only  one 
to  whom  the  rumour  could  possibly  apply.  Napoleon 
turned  his  thoughts  vindictively  towards  the  young 
prince.  The  suspicion  was  increased  by  positive  inform- 
ation received  that  the  Duke  had  applied  for  service 
against  France  in  the  English  army.  A  little  later  a 
secret  agent  reported  that  d'Enghien  was  conferring 
with  Royalist  officers  with  a  view  to  invading  France  if 
the  assassination  of  Napoleon  was  effected  ;  and  when 
application  was  made  to  the  Prefect  of  Strassburg  he 
forwarded  a  report  that  the  ex-General  Dumouriez  was 
with  the  Duke  at  Ettenheim.  A  simple  confusion  of 
the  names  Thumery  and  Dumouriez  thus  offered  a 
strong  confirmation  of  the  suspicion. 

All  that  Talleyrand  had  done  so  far  was  to  write  a 
protest  to  the  Elector  of  Baden  against  the  use  of  his 
territory  for  conspiracy.  The  critical  moment  came 
when  Napoleon  summoned  him  and  the  other  ministers, 


Ube  IRestoratton  ot  IRelioioii  217 

the  two  Consuls,  and  Fouche,  to  a  council  on  the  matter. 
At  that  council  it  was  decided  to  violate  the  territory  of 
Baden,  and  arrest  the  Duke  ;  the  rest  was  inevitable. 
What  was  the  attitude  of  Talleyrand  .''  His  accuser  is 
Savary,  a  bitter  enemy,  and  a  writer  who  is  found  time 
after  time  to  distort  his  narrative  in  the  interest  of  his 
prejudices.  Savary  says  that  Talleyrand  urged  that  the 
duke  "be  arrested  and  settled  with."  He  gives  this  on 
the  authority  of  two  documents.  The  first  is  the 
memoirs  of  Cambaceres  (one  of  the  Consuls  present, 
also  an  enemy  of  Talleyrand),  which  have  never  seen  the 
light,  and  which,  in  fact,  Savary  did  not  care  to  invoke 
till  Cambaceres  was  dead,  as  he  "  did  not  like  to  mention 
his  name  while  he  was  still  alive."  The  other  document 
purports  to  be  an  abstract  of  the  speech  that  Talleyrand 
delivered  on  the  occasion.  All  Talleyrand's  enemies 
have  built  their  charge  against  him  on  this  document. 
It  is  a  forged  document.  In  this  case  we  have  the 
confession  of  the  forger  himself,  Talleyrand's  mischievous 
ex-secretary,  Perrey.  Thus  there  is  not  a  particle  of 
serious  evidence  that  Talleyrand  urged  either  the  arrest 
or  the  execution.  Such  an  act  would  be  violently  incon- 
sistent with  his  character.  We  should  require  the  most 
positive  evidence  before  admitting  it.  As  a  fact,  we  are 
invited  to  believe  it  on  the  grround  of  an  acknowledged 
fabrication  and  a  reference  by  a  malignant  enemy  to 
another  document  which  no  one  else  has  ever  seen. 

Talleyrand    told    Mme.    Remusat     that    he     knew 
Napoleon  was  absolutely  bent  on   destroying  the  Duke 


2i8  Ualle^rant) 

and  striking  terror  into  the  Bourbons,  and  so  he  said 
nothing.  The  careful  student  of  his  character  must  feel 
that  that  is  just  what  he  would  do.  "The  best  principle 
is  not  to  have  any  at  all,"  he  once  said  with  a  laugh. 
He  meant  that  in  such  cases  as  this  a  virtuous  protest 
would  do  no  good  whatever,  and  did  not  seem  worth 
the  torrent  of  anger  it  would  provoke.  We  may  not 
admire  such  prudence,  but  we  must  be  just  to  it. 
Talleyrand  could  and  did  protest,  before  and  after  this 
date,  when  he  believed  something  might  be  done. 

Talleyrand  admits  that  after  the  Council  he  wrote 
three  letters  at  the  direction  of  Napoleon,  giving 
instructions  for  the  arrest,  or  in  connection  with  it.  He 
says  that  this  was  a  "  painful  necessity."  The  critic  could 
only  suggest  here  that  he  ought  to  have  resigned,  which 
no  one  seems  to  have  thought  of  doing  at  the  time. 
Another  memoir  writer  of  the  time,  Pasquier,  who  is 
hostile  to  Talleyrand,  says  that  "a  lady"  heard  the 
Foreign  Minister  reply  to  a  question  about  the  Duke  : 
"  He  will  be  shot."  It  is  a  mere  on  dit^  but  it  would  not 
be  strange  for  Talleyrand  to  have  predicted  that  issue. 
Savary  builds  a  good  deal  on  a  visit  that  Talleyrand  paid 
to  the  Governor  of  Paris  after  the  duke  had  been  brought 
there.  But  the  object  of  this  is  clear.  The  carriage 
containing  the  unfortunate  prisoner  had  been  driven  by 
mistake  to  Talleyrand's  hotel,  and  he  had  to  see  the 
governor  about  its  further  direction.  It  left  immediately 
for  Vincennes,  and  the  tragedy  was  carried  to  its  close. 
Talleyrand  has   nothing  to  do  with  the  last  and  darkest 


Zbc  IRestoratton  of  IRelioion  219 

scenes,  but  Savary  is  deeply  implicated.  The  statement 
that  Talleyrand  detained,  until  it  was  too  late,  the  Duke's 
request  for  an  interview  has  been  refuted  long  ago.  On 
the  other  hand,  Napoleon's  statement  that  he  was  unaware 
of  the  Duke's  existence  until  Talleyrand  began  to  suggest 
the  crime  has  been  proved  to  be  untrue,  and  is  virtually 
retracted  by  Napoleon's  later  and  bolder  expressions. 

Thus  when  we  bring  the  charge  against  Talleyrand 
down  to  its  real  proportions,  it  means  that  he  did  not 
protest  against  the  execution  in  advance,  and  did  not 
resign  when  it  was  accomplished.  It  seems  clear  that 
he  did  not  regard  the  event  with  any  horror  at  the 
time,  and  that  he  really  did  to  some  undefined  extent 
regard  it  as,  if  not  a  political  necessity,  at  least  an 
effective  political  measure.  Resignation  on  account  of  it 
was  out  ot  the  question.  He  said  to  someone  who 
suggested  it :  "  If  Bonaparte  has  committed  a  crime,  that 
is  no  reason  I  should  make  a  mistake."  We  who  judge 
these  things  dissect  them  out  of  their  living  texture,  and 
set  them  under  our  ethical  glasses  in  placid  studies.  It 
would  be  well,  perhaps,  to  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of  a 
statesman  who  was  a  daily  witness  of  the  frightful 
condition  into  which  plotters  had  thrown  Napoleon, 
and  who  felt  how  much  the  peace  of  the  country  was 
overclouded  by  Bourbon  and  English  conspirators.* 

It  would  be  ingenuous  to  trace  any  feeling  or  lack 
of  feeling  in   Talleyrand's  conduct  after  the  execution. 


*  Mr.   Holland    Rose  claims  to  have  shown   that  the  officials  of  the 
English  Foreign  Office  were  co-operating  in  the  Cadoudal  conspiracy. 


220  xralleKHn& 

It  was  his  diplomatic  duty  to  kill  the  feeling  of  disgust 
in  others,  whatever  he  felt  himself.  He  had  not  a  difficult 
task.  The  ball  he  gave  immediately  afterwards  was  well 
attended  ;  amongst  others  the  envoy  of  the  Neapolitan 
Bourbons  was  there.  The  Spanish  Bourbons  shrugged 
their  shoulders,  and  said  it  was  a  pity  the  Duke  had 
drawn  it  on  himself.  Prussia  and  Austria  were  without 
difficulty  persuaded  to  take  no  notice  of  the  affair.  The 
King  of  Sweden  was  disposed  to  interfere,  but  Talleyrand 
sent  word  to  him  that  "  as  France  did  not  meddle  with 
Swedish  affairs,  perhaps  Sweden  would  leave  French 
matters  to  France."  When  the  Czar  sent  his  Court  into 
mourning,  and  raised  difficulties,  Talleyrand  met  him 
with  the  enquiry  whether  "  at  the  time  when  England 
was  compassing  the  death  of  Paul  I  every  effort  would 
not  have  been  made  to  have  the  plotters  seized  if  they 
were  known  to  be  only  a  league  beyond  the  frontiers." 
As  the  murderers  of  Paul  I  were  the  intimate  friends  of 
his  son  and  were  retained  in  honour  by  him,  the  inquiry 
sufficiently  spoiled  the  dignity  of  the  Russian  protest. 

One  more  great  event  of  the  year  1 804  must  be 
noticed  before  we  return  to  foreign  affairs.  On  May  18 
Napoleon  was  declared  Emperor.  Talleyrand  had  no 
repugnance  whatever  to  the  re-introduction  of  the  here- 
ditary principle  or  the  formal  declaration  of  the  autocracy 
of  Napoleon.  He  would  have  preferred  the  title  of  king, 
but  Napoleon  had  a  larger  prospect.  The  change  took 
place  with  the  full  wish  of  the  country,  and  seemed  to  be 
in  its  interest.     Talleyrand  was  entrusted  with  the  task 


Ubc  IRcstoration  of  IReligton  221 

of  forming  the  new  Court.  From  the  frame  of  the  old 
German  Empire  he  borrowed  half-a-dozen  high-sounding 
dignities,  and  he  is  said  to  have  been  much  mortified 
when  Napoleon  failed  to  bestow  one  of  those  on  himself. 
It  is  explained  that  Napoleon  did  not  care  to  put  any 
minister  in  an  "immovable"  position.  He  was,  however, 
made  Grand  Chamberlain  to  the  new  Emperor,  receiving 
nearly  500,000  francs  a  year  and  a  much  closer  association 
with  Napoleon's  monarchical  ways  than  he  cared  for.  As 
Foreign  Minister  he  had  the  difficult  task  of  inducing 
Pius  VII  to  come  for  the  coronation — "  a  miracle  of 
Napoleon's  destiny,"  he  calls  it.  In  July  he  accompanied 
Napoleon  and  Josephine  to  the  camp  at  Boulogne,  and 
then  to  Aix  la  Chapelle,  where  Napoleon  posed  as  the 
modern  Charlemagne  to  a  crowd  of  small  German 
princes.  In  November  the  Pope  arrived.  The  suspicious 
pontiff  did  not  feel  his  apprehensions  allayed  when,  at 
their  first  meeting,  Napoleon  deliberately  tricked  him 
into  taking  the  second  seat  in  the  carriage.  Nor  was 
Napoleon  too  pleased  when  Josephine  appealed  to  the 
Pope  to  have  her  marriage  made  secure  by  a  religious 
ceremony.  Cardinal  Fesch  married  them,  but  the 
Bonapartists  always  held  that  it  was  invalid  as  the  parish 
priest  was  not  present.  When  Rogers  asked  Talley- 
rand afterwards  whether  Napoleon  had  really  married 
Josephine,  he  answered  :   "Not  altogether." 

Talleyrand  witnessed  the  last  act  in  the  drama  of 
the  Revolution  when,  on  December  2nd  (1804),  the 
three  Bonapartes   and   Josephine,    preceded    by    Murat 


222  Ualle^ran^ 

and  twenty  brilliant  squadrons  of  cavalry,  drove  in  a 
gorgeous  chariot  to  the  door  of  Notre  Dame.  Where 
reason  and  humanity  had  been  enthroned  a  few  years 
before,  a  glittering  pageantry  of  Church  and  State  now 
gathered  about  the  altar  for  the  coronation  of  a  more 
absolute  autocrat  than  Louis  XVI.  A  Pope,  convinced 
in  his  conscience  of  the  utter  impiety  and  immorality 
of  Napoleon,  solemnly  intoned  the  "  Veni,  Creator 
Spiritus,"  and  received  Napoleon's  profession  of  faith. 
In  the  interest  of  peace  and  of  the  Church,  Pius  VII 
stooped  to  acts  that  nearly  broke  his  heart.  And  when 
the  supreme  moment  came  in  which  he  was  to  crown 
Napoleon,  and  thus  assert  at  length  and  for  ever  his 
own  ascendancy,  Napoleon  snatched  the  crown  from  its 
cushion  and  put  it  on  his  own  head.  For  several  months 
the  Pope  and  his  ministers  remained  at  Paris.  Talley- 
rand speaks  in  the  memoirs  with  great  respect  and 
sympathy  of  the  Pope,  and  says  that  he  refused  any 
presents  for  his  family  and  asked  no  advantage  of  a 
material  kind  for  the  Church.  We  know  that  he  did 
press  for  the  restoration  of  the  temporal  power,  and  was 
met  with  the  mocking  assurance  that  "  Napoleon  must 
keep  what  God  has  given  him."  So  Pius  VII  returned 
to  Rome  empty-handed,  with  a  bitter  consciousness  of 
his  futile  sacrifices  and  compromises. 


CHAPTER    XII 


THE     RENEWAL     OF     WAR 


We  have  now  to  resume  the  story  of  work  at  the 
Foreign  Office,  and  examine — in  so  far  as  Talleyrand 
figures  in  them — the  complicated  events  that  led  to  the 
resumption  of  hostilities  in  1805.  The  peace  with 
England  had  not  even  an  illusory  appearance  of  solidity. 
Napoleon  described  it  as  "  a  short  armistice  ; " 
George  III  said  it  was  "an  experimental  peace." 
Napoleon  was  irritated  when  Talleyrand  used  to  say 
that  he  would  have  been  willing  to  leave  Malta  to  the 
English  if  he  could  have  had  the  treaty  signed  by  Fox 
or  Pitt  instead  of  the  less  clear  and  resolute  Addington. 
But  whether  or  no  Napoleon  himself  regarded  the 
Peace  of  Amiens  as  a  stage  in  the  conquest  of  Europe, 
it  undoubtedly  presented  itself  in  that  light  very  shortly. 
Once  clothed  with  the  Imperial  purple,  the  mantle  of 
Charlemagne,  Napoleon  would  see  the  splendid  strategic 
position  he  occupied  in  Europe.  We  must  go  back  a 
little,  however,  to  understand  clearly  the  negotiations 
in  which  Talleyrand  was  engaged  before  the  second 
campaign  against  Austria. 

The   pretty   theory  of   sharing  the   world  between 
the  Mistress  of  the  Sea  and  the  Mistress  of  the   Land 

223 


224  XTallev^rant) 

soon  ceased  to  impose.  England  was  far  from  willing 
to  surrender  Europe  to  Napoleon.  Such  an  abandon- 
ment would  have  meant  the  closing  of  all  European 
ports  against  her  commerce,  the  closing  of  the  route  to 
India  and  a  descent  upon  it  through  Russia,  and  the 
loss  of  Egypt.  She  therefore  watched  Napoleon 
closely  in  Europe,  and  clung  to  Malta  on  the  plea  that 
it  was  to  have  been  put  under  the  guarantee  of  the  six 
Powers  and  four  of  them  would  not  now  carry  out  the 
agreement.  Thiers  blames  Talleyrand  for  not  securing 
this  action  on  the  part  of  Russia,  Prussia,  Austria  and 
Spflin,  but  it  is  incredible  either  that  Talleyrand  should 
neglect  to  press  for  so  serious  a  guarantee  of  peace  or 
that  Napoleon  should  allow  him  to  do  so.  It  was  the 
sight  of  Napoleon's  empire  creeping  out  yearly  beyond 
the  borders  of  France  that  lit  the  flame — first  of  sus- 
picion, finally  of  war.  With  this  fatal  ambition 
Talleyrand  had  no  sympathy. 

We  have  already  seen  how,  after  the  conclusion  ot 
peace,  Napoleon  annexed  Piedmont  and  Elba,  and 
virtually  subjugated  Switzerland.  Talleyrand  declares 
that  he  made  every  efFort  to  dissuade  Napoleon  from 
incorporating  Piedmont,  and  we  have  the  evidence  of 
Luchesini  that  he  threatened  to  resign  if  Napoleon 
made  himself  President  of  the  Swiss  Republic.  But 
Piedmont  was  Napoleon's  own  conquest,  as  well  as  the 
base  of  operations  in  Italy.  When  England  protested 
against  the  invasion  of  Switzerland,  and  sent  agents  there 
to   intrigue    against  the   French,   he    caused    Talleyrand 


Zbc  IRenewal  of  Mar  225 

to  write  a  despatch  to  the  French  envoy  at  London, 
in  which  he  unfolded  the  whole  plan  of  a  conquest  of 
Europe,  and  the  closing  of  all  its  ports  against  England. 
It  is  certain  that  Talleyrand  averted  the  consequences  of 
this  by  modifying  the  message  before  it  was  actually 
presented  at  London.  Napoleon  also  complained  bitterly 
of  the  protection  afforded  to  royalist  conspirators  and 
libellists  at  London  ;  and  he  said  that,  as  Piedmont  and 
Switzerland  were  not  mentioned  in  the  Treaty  of  Amiens, 
England  had  nothing  to  do  with  them. 

In  the  early  part  of  1803  the  strain  became  greater 
and  greater,  and  led  quickly  to  rupture.  The  English 
Ambassador  at  Paris,  Lord  Whitworth,  was  a  firm  and 
dignified  noble,  with  instructions  to  I?e  firm  and  dignified 
rather  than  accommodating.  Napoleon  had,  in  January, 
published  in  the  French  papers  a  report  on  the  mission 
of  General  Sebastiani  to  Egypt,  the  tenor  of  which  was 
clearly  to  point  to  the  practicability  of  a  seizure  by  the 
French.  When,  therefore,  Talleyrand  approached  Lord 
Whitworth  on  the  subject  of  Malta  at  the  close  of  the 
month,  he  found  that  England  was  more  determined 
than  ever  to  keep  that  island.  Talleyrand  made  a 
desperate  effort  to  represent  the  mission  as  commercial, 
but  Napoleon  now  took  up  the  matter,  confessed  that  it 
was  ml  wholly  commercial,  and  made  his  famous  project 
of  an  arrangement  between  England  and  France  to 
govern  the  world.  He  had  received  news  of  the  mis- 
carriage of  his  West  Indian  expedition,  and  now  seemed 
to  contemplate  a  brilliant  venture  in  the  East  ;  but  he 

15 


226  tCallevrant) 

wanted  peace  until  his  plans  were  completed.  As  to 
Piedmont  and  Switzerland,  they  were — he  used  a  word 
which  Lord  Whitworth  shrinks  from  committing  to 
paper.  George  III  replied  by  his  appeal  for  the 
embodiment  of  the  militia  and  a  further  10,000  men 
for  the  Navy.  A  few  days  afterwards  Napoleon,  in  his 
most  tactless  manner,  blurted  out  to  Whitworth,  as 
he  stood  in  the  circle  of  ambassadors  at  the  levee  :  "  So 
you  want  war  ? "  He  was  now  convinced  that  war 
was  inevitable,  but  he  wanted  to  throw  the  burden  of 
declaring  it  on   England. 

Early   in   April   Whitworth  presented  the  English 
terms.      Malta   must  be   retained  by   England,  Holland 
and  Switzerland  be  evacuated  by  France  and  Elba  ceded 
to  her,  and  the  Italian  and  Ligurian  Republics  would  be 
recognized.       When    Talleyrand    disclosed    the    terms 
informally  to  Napoleon,  he  would  listen  to  no  compromise 
that  would  nearly  satisfy  England.    He  prepared  another 
violent  charge  to  be  made  upon  Whitworth  at  the  levee 
on   May    ist,   but   the  English  Ambasssdor  was  absent. 
Napoleon  returned  to   St.   Cloud,  and  dictated  minute 
and   characteristic   instructions  to  Talleyrand  for  a  last 
interview   with  Whitworth.      "  Be    cold,    haughty,    and 
even  rather  proud  in  your  bearing.     If  his  note  contains 
the  word  ultimatum,  point  out   to  him   that  this  word 
includes  '  war,'  and  that  such  a  manner  of  negotiating  is 
rather  that  of  a   superior  towards   an    inferior  ;    if  the 
letter  does  not  contain  the  word,  force  him  to  insert  it. 
....    Make  him  apprehensive  as  to  the  consequences 


XLbc  IRcnewal  of  Mar  227 

of  delivering  such  a  note.  If  he  is  unshakable, 
accompany  him  into  your  salon.  When  he  is  leaving 
you,  say  :  '  Are  the  Cape  and  the  Island  of  Goree 
evacuated  !  '  Tone  down  the  close  of  the  interview, 
and  invite  him  to  see  you  again  before  writing  home,  so 
that  you  can  tell  him  what  effect  it  has  had  on  me," 

All  the  acting  of  the  accomplished  artists  was  of  no 
avail.  The  ultimatum  had  to  be  presented  by  Talley- 
rand, and  he  was  soundly  abused  by  Napoleon  for  doing 
so.  It  was  submitted  to  the  Council  at  St.  Cloud  on 
May  iith,  and  all  present  except  Talleyrand  and  Joseph 
Bonaparte  voted  for  the  rejection  of  the  British  demands. 
Lord  Whitworth  left  Paris  on  the  following  day. 
England  declared  war  on  France  six  days  later.  Thus 
opened  the  Titanic  struggle  that  was  to  bring  Napoleon 
to  the  dust  after  ten  weary  years,  and  after  spreading 
the  flames  of  war  from  Moscow  to  Madrid.  The 
biographer  of  Talleyrand  has  only  to  point  out  that  here 
the  Foreign  Minister  begins  to  diverge  from  the  First 
Consul.  We  shall  find  them  again  in  closest  co-operation, 
until  Napoleon's  harsh,  arrogant  and  unworthy  treatment 
of  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Spain  compels  Talleyrand  to 
leave  him;  but  the  divergence  begins  in  1803,  if  not 
at  the  end  of  1802.  Talleyrand  disapproved  of  the 
Gallicising  of  Piedmont  and  Switzerland,  the  mission  of 
Sebastiani,  the  irritating  language  of  the  French  official 
press  and  official  documents,  and  the  strict  insistence  on 
the  evacuation  of  Malta  by  the  English.  He  faced  and 
endured    the    anger    of    Napoleon    by    his    opposition. 


228  'C:alle\>ranb 

Napoleon  to  some  extent  declined  to  use  him  in  the 
negotiations  with  England  on  account  of  his  pacific 
feeling  ;  Whitworth  is  said  to  have  avoided  him  some- 
what because  of  his  "  corruption."  But  he  stands  out 
clearly  in  this  crisis  as  a  friend  of  peace  and  humanity,  a 
wise  and  honest  adviser,  a  firm  opponent  of  Napoleon's 
growing  and  benighting  ambition.  Meantime,  while 
Napoleon  is  devising  means  to  overleap  the  great  barrier 
of  his  plans,  the  English  Channel,  we  have  to  follow 
Talleyrand  in  the  complicated  negotiations  with  which 
he  fought  England  for  the  alliance  or  the  neutrality  of 
the  continental  Powers. 

Talleyrand  was  already  in  diplomatic  corre- 
spondence with  Russia,  Prussia  and  Austria,  about  the 
"perfidy"  of  England  in  refusing  to  carry  out  the  chief 
enactment  of  the  Treaty  of  Amiens — the  evacuation  of 
Malta.  The  impressionable  young  Tsar  was  touched, 
and  complained  of  the  obscurity  of  England's  aims. 
Napoleon  at  once  proposed  that  he  should  mediate 
between  the  belligerents,  and  for  some  months  he  was 
understood  to  be  prepared  to  negotiate  in  this  sense. 
As  a  fact  he  was  deeply  engrossed  in  humanitarian 
reform  in  his  own  country,  and  he  had  a  growing 
suspicion  of  Napoleon's  aims.  After  prolonged  com- 
munications he  succeeded  in  drawing  Prussia  into  a 
defensive  alliance  (May  24th,  1 805)  against  France. 
This  was  a  serious  diplomatic  defeat  for  Talleyrand,  who 
had  at  the  same  time  been  endeavouring  to  secure  the 
Prussian    alliance.     He    had,    in    fact,    concentrated   his 


XTbe  IRenewal  ot  Mar  229 

efforts  to  obtain  at  least  a  benevolent  neutrality  from 
Berlin.  "Do  not  be  afraid  of  that  mountain  of  snow, 
Russia,"  he  wrote.  Napoleon  distributed  honours  at  the 
Prussian  Court,  and  made  generous  offers  of  terms,  but 
the  deeply  perplexed  and  anxious  successor  of  Frederic 
the  Great  ended  his  long  vacillation  by  concluding  a 
treaty  with  his  friend,  the  Tsar. 

It  would  be  useless  here  to  describe  in  any  detail 
the  diplomatic  work  of  the  next  two  years  (from  the 
declaration  of  war  by  England  to  the  opening  of  the 
campaign  in  1805).  Talleyrand's  task  was  to  meet  and 
defeat  the  effort  of  Pitt  to  raise  up  a  fresh  coalition 
against  Napoleon.  He  made  a  loyal  and  brilliant  effort 
to  do  so,  but  entirely  failed.  Napoleon's  encroachments 
were  too  obvious,  his  power  in  Europe  too  menacing, 
his  concessions  in  diplomacy  too  tardy  and  niggardly  to 
enable  him  to  resist  the  power  of  English  gold  and  the 
zeal  of  the  alienated  Tsar.  His  only  successes  were  of 
an  inglorious  character.  He  forced  helpless  Spain  to 
acquiesce  in  the  sale  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  States 
for  eighty  millions,  and  to  send  seventy-two  millions  a 
year  to  the  French  treasury.  Napoleon  assisted  his 
diplomacy  in  this  case  with  two  arguments  :  the  forma- 
tion of  a  huge  military  camp  near  the  Spanish  frontier, 
and  a  threat  to  draw  the  attention  of  Europe  to  the 
delicate  relations  of  the  Spanish  Queen  and  leading 
minister. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  1804,  Russia  was 
approached    by    England,     and     the    Tsar    showed    a 


230  TTalle^ran^ 

willingness  to  enter  into  an  alliance  for  the  control  of 
Napoleon  and  in  the  interest  of  Europe.  The  mercantile 
differences  which  had  kept  the  two  nations  apart  were 
gradually  adjusted,  and  a  treaty  was  concluded  in  April, 
1805.  Gustavus  IV  of  Sweden  was  already  engaged  to 
Russia  in  the  same  sense.  Austria,  too,  was  bound  by 
a  secret  agreement  with  Russia  (November  6th,  1804) 
if  Napoleon  made  any  further  aggression  in  Italy,  or 
threatened  the  integrity  of  Turkey.  Thus  by  the 
middle  of  1 805  a  formidable  coalition  was  in  existence. 
The  correspondence  of  Talleyrand  with  Napoleon  during 
that  period  is  an  amazing  indication  of  activity.  He 
keeps  the  Emperor  informed  of  events  in  Turkey  and 
Sweden,  Russia  and  England,  Prussia  and  Austria  ;  he 
sends  the  news  from  the  surgeons  who  are  with  the 
armies  and  the  secret  agents  who  are  plotting  and 
observing  from  Ireland  to  Persia  ;  he  tells  the  latest 
marriages  at  Paris,  the  dissipations  of  the  ambassadors, 
the  small  scandals,  so  finely  told,  that  will  relieve 
Napoleon's  leisure  hours.  *  There  was  no  lack  of  spirit 
or  ability  in  his  work,  but  Napoleon  had  cast  for 
war  and  it  could  at  the  most  only  be  postponed. 
When  Talleyrand  evaded  the  task  of  writing  the 
violent  letters  he  directed  to  be  sent  to  foreign 
Courts,  he  wrote  them  himself.  The  Prussian 
Ambassador    informed    his    Court    that    Napoleon    was 

*  In  one  letter,  for  instance,  he  tells  how  the  Spanish  Minister  at  Paris 
had  died  and  left  him  60,000  francs  to  settle  on  his  god-daughter.  "I 
found,"  he  adds,  "  that  she  had  a  more  sacred  title  to  his  interest  than 
that." 


Hbc  IRcncwal  of  Mar  231 

forced  into  war  in  order  to  cover  his  enormous 
accumulation  of  men  at  Boulogne  for  the  ostensible 
purpose  of  attacking  England. 

The  spark  that  lit  the  conflagration  was  Napoleon's 
descent  into  Italy  in  May,  1 805.  Talleyrand  accom- 
panied him  to  Milan.  On  May  26th  he  crowned 
himself  King  of  Italy  with  the  famous  iron  crown  of  the 
Lombard  Kings,  directed  that  a  series  of  splendid 
spectacles  should  impress  upon  the  astounded  nations  this 
last  stroke  of  the  effrontery  of  genius.  The  Ligurian 
or  Genoese  Republic  was  at  the  same  time  declared 
to  be  incorporated  in  the  French  Empire.  Austria 
was  now  bound  by  her  agreement  with  Russia  to 
take  action  and  she  began  to  move  her  forces. 
Talleyrand  went  back  to  Paris  with  Napoleon  but 
at  the  close  of  August  we  find  he  has  joined  the 
Emperor  at  Boulogne.  By  this  time  all  hope  of 
invading  England  was  over.  The  combined  French 
and  Spanish  fleet  had  retreated  to  Cadiz.  With  a 
phrase  Napoleon  converted  the  huge  army,  stretching 
nine  miles  along  the  coast,  into  "the  army  of  Germany," 
wheeled  it  about  to  face  Austria,  and  set  out  for  Paris  to 
make  his  final  preparations. 

Talleyrand  followed  Napoleon  to  Strassburg  towards 
the  close  of  September.  On  the  day  that  the  Emperor 
was  to  leave  for  the  field  Talleyrand  dined  with  him, 
and  was  greatly  alarmed  when  Napoleon  fell  into  a  fit, 
which  lasted  half  an  hour.  He  made  the  Foreign  Minister 
promise  to  keep  it  a   secret,   and  was  off"  in  half  an  hour 


232  tTalle^rant) 

to  Carlsruhe.*  The  letters  he  writes  to  Napoleon  at 
this  time  exhale  the  old  perfume.  "  He  is  afflicted  beyond 
expression "  to  hear  that  he  will  learn  nothing  of 
Napoleon  for  five  or  six  days.  In  another  letter  he  says  : 
"  Your  Majesty  will  always  be  deceived  if  you  expect  to 
find  in  other  kings  the  grandeur  of  soul,  the  loftiness  of 
sentiments,  and  the  firmness  of  character  that  distinguish 
you."  This  is  a  little  rank,  but  there  are  other  indi- 
cations besides  these  letters  that  the  old  intimacy  and 
confidence  had  been  restored.  Talleyrand  had  bitterly 
regretted  the  events  at  Milan,  but,  with  his  usual 
acceptance  of  accomplished  facts,  he  was  hoping  that  the 
defeat  of  Austria  (of  which  he  could  entertain  no  doubt) 
would  relieve  Napoleon's  ardour  and  pave  the  way  for 
peace.  He  wrote  to  d'Hauterive  that  the  best  thing 
would  be  for  Napoleon  to  give  up  the  kingdom  of  Italy, 
force  Austria  to  abandon  Venice,  find  her  compensation 
in  Germany,  and  enter  into  an  alliance  with  her.  That 
would  remove  grounds  of  quarrel  in  Italy.  At  the 
same  time  he  prepared  a  memorandum,  and  even  a 
treaty,  to  submit  to  Napoleon  after  the  defeat  of  Austria. 
Italy  was  to  be  given  up,  Switzerland  declared  neutral, 
and  the  territory  exacted  of  Austria  to  be  divided  among 
the  small  German  States  that  had  joined  France, 

He  sent  this   admirable  memorandum  to  Napoleon 
on  the  day  he  heard  of  the  victory  at  Ulm.      It  had  not 

*  Rogers,  hearing  this  from  Talleyrand,  asked  Lucien  if  he  knew  of  it. 
Lucien  said  he  did  not ;  but  he  added  with  a  laugh  that  he  knew  his 
brother  had  once  had  a  similar  Kt  wlien  an  actress  declined  to  be 
honoured  by  him. 


XTbc  IRcnewal  of  Mar  233 

sufficient  of  the  arrogance  of  the  conqueror  in  it  for 
Napoleon.  He  submitted  it  as  the  subject  of  a  discus- 
sion in  Council,  but  the  continued  success  of  his  arms 
made  him  ambitious  to  dictate  "  better  "  terms.  The 
news  of  Trafalgar — Talleyrand  broke  it  to  him  in  his 
happiest  manner  :  "  Genius  and  good  fortune  were  in 
Germany" — did  not  arrest  him,  or,  indeed,  forced  him 
to  look  yet  more  to  continental  expansion  now  that 
his  colonial  scheme  was  shattered.  He  mistook 
Talleyrand's  sagacity  and  good  sense  for  a  puling 
humanitarianism.  From  Munich  they  passed  on  to 
Vienna,  where  Talleyrand  had  to  press  Napoleon's 
harsh  terms  on  Austria's  despairing  statesmen.  On 
December  ist  he  again  framed  a  sober  and  reasonable 
treaty,  but  the  next  day  occurred  the  battle  of  Austerlitz. 
"The  Emperor  Alexander,"  he  says  bitterly  in  his 
memoirs,  "  was  rather  bored  at  Olmiitz  ;  he  had  never 
witnessed  a  battle,  and  he  wanted  to  see  the  fun." 
Talleyrand  was  exasperated  against  Russia  and  Austria 
for  not  coming  to  terms  earlier.  The  day  after 
Austerlitz  he  crossed  the  field  with  Marshal  Lannes, 
and  saw  even  that  hardened  soldier  turn  away  with  a 
feeling  of  sickness.  He  saw  Napoleon  established  in 
the  house  of  an  Austrian  prince,  and  the  proudest  flags 
and  distinguished  commanders  of  the  two  beaten  nations 
brought  to  his  feet.*     He  felt  how  difficult  it  would  be 


*  He  relieves  his  narrative  here  by  telling  how  the  courier  arrived 
from  Paris,  and  Napoleon  interrupted  his  triumph  to  read  his  corres- 
pondence.    There   was  a  letter  from  Mme.  de  Genlis,  and  Napoleon  fell 


234  xrallei^ranb 

now  to  restrain  the  conqueror,  though  he  made  one 
more  eloquent  appeal  to  him  not  to  ruin  Austria  and 
sow  a  harvest  of  hatred  on  the  frontier  of  France. 
Napoleon  shook  aside  the  appeal  with  a  suspicion  that 
Talleyrand  must  have  been  bought. 

From  Austerlitz  he  went  to  Briinn,  and  there  heard 
with  increased  disgust  that  the  Prussian  Ambassador, 
Haugwitz,  had  signed  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Napoleon. 
"  Was  it  crime  or  folly  ?  "  Talleyrand  asks.  Prussia 
had  agreed  with  Russia  to  offer  armed  mediation  to 
Napoleon,  and  to  make  war  on  him  if  he  did  not  accept 
it  by  December  15th.  Instead  of  this,  Haugwitz  was 
bullied  and  bribed  (by  the  offer  of  Hanover)  into  signing 
an  alliance.  Talleyrand  hurried  on  to  Pressburg  to 
meet  the  Austrian  envoys.  Those  who  are  tempted  to 
conceive  him  as  indolent  would  do  well  to  read  his 
letters  at  this  time.  At  five  in  the  morning  of  the  23rd 
he  writes  to  tell  Napoleon  that  he  was  half-blinded  in 
crossing  the  frozen  Danube,  and  so  could  not  write 
earlier  (evidently  there  are  no  obscure  assistants  doing 
the  work  for  him  here),  but  is  now  resuming  work.  At 
two  on  the  following  morning  he  tells  that  he  has  had  a 
twelve  hours'  conference  with  the  Austrians,  and  will 
begin  again  at  eight.  But  Napoleon  was  inexorable. 
The  only  modification  of  the  terms  that  he  would  grant 
was  a  reduction  of  the  indemnity  by  ten  million  francs. 


into  a  violent  storm  of  anger  and  mortification  in  the  midst  of  his  glory  as 
he  heard  of  the  irrepressible  chattering  about  him  of  the  Faubourg  St. 
Germain. 


Zbc  IRenewal  of  taar  235 

Austria  had  to  part  with  Venice,  Tyrol,  Friuli,  Istria, 
and  Dalmatia,  and  to  recognise  the  kingdom  of  Italy. 
That  was  Napoleon's  reply  to  Talleyrand's  memo- 
randum. He  had  begun  to  sow  the  dragon's  teeth.  The 
Austrian  ministers  were  forced  to  sign  the  Treaty  on 
January  ist.  The  only  service  Talleyrand  could  render 
them  was  to  make  the  terms  free  from  ambiguity.  This 
action  was  described  by  Napoleon  as  "  infimous  and 
corrupt."  Talleyrand  knew  his  master.  Once  before, 
when  someone  was  giving  him  instructions  from 
Napoleon  as  to  the  framing  of  the  Cisalpine  Constitu- 
tion, and  was  telling  him  to  make  it  "short  and  clear," 
Talleyrand  interrupted  him  with  the  words  :  "  Yes, 
short  and  obscure." 

Mr.  Holland  Rose  fully  admits  the  unwisdom  of 
Napoleon  in  rejecting  Talleyrand's  plan  of  settlement, 
but  he  thinks  it  rather  due  to  the  idea  of  a  "continental 
system  "  against  England  than  to  mere  lust  of  domi- 
nation. The  very  scanty  sea  frontier  of  Austria  made 
her  a  matter  of  indifference  in  Napoleon's  plan  of 
excluding  England  from  Europe  ;  it  was  far  more 
important  to  win  Prussia  and  Russia,  and  the  Northern 
States.  No  one  will  question  that  the  dream  of  the 
universal  closing  of  ports  was  at  work  in  the  Treaty, 
but  it  does  not  explain  some  of  the  worst  features  of 
Napoleon's  divergence  from  Talleyrand.  In  any  case, 
it  is  unquestionable  that,  as  Talleyrand  says,  "modera- 
tion began  to  desert  Napoleon  after  the  Peace  of 
Amiens,"    and    each    fresh    victory  —  Ulm,    Austerlitz, 


236  ^allescan^ 

Jena,  Friedland  —  increased  his  insensibility  to  the 
sound  law  that  a  harsh  and  insolent  settlement  is  not 
final.  This  is  the  just  and  honourable  ground  of  that 
dissidence  of  feeling  on  the  part  of  Talleyrand  that 
culminated   in   "  desertion." 

In  January  they  returned  to  Paris.  Napoleon 
arrived  there  at  midnight  of  the  26th,  and  he  opened  a 
financial  council  at  eight  the  following  morning.  His 
minister  was  scarcely  less  active.  In  the  midst  of  his 
distinctive  labours  he  had  found  time  to  study  the 
financial  disorder  at  home,  and  had  submitted  to 
Napoleon  a  new  plan  of  a  bank.  Now  that  they  were  in 
Paris  again  the  work  of  settlement  had  to  be  resumed. 
Haugwitz  arrived  on  February  ist  with  fresh  proposals 
from  the  King  of  Prussia,  who  had  refused  to  ratify 
his  outrageous  treaty  of  Schonbrunn  until  peace  was 
concluded  with  England.  Napoleon's  whole  policy  being 
directed  against  England,  he  took  advantage  of  Prussia's 
delay  to  declare  the  treaty  of  Schonbrunn  annulled,  and 
make  Talleyrand  draw  up  a  fresh  one  which  bound 
Prussia  to  join  the  system  by  closing  the  Elbe  and 
Weser  against  England.  The  new  treaty  was  ratified 
at  Berlin  before  the  end  of  February.  France  had 
ceded  Hanover  to  Prussia  as  her  reward,  but  Hanover 
belonged  to  England.  Moreover,  a  few  weeks  later 
Napoleon  made  his  brother  Louis  King  of  Holland,  as 
he  had  already  made  Joseph  King  of  Naples.  The 
second  chief  ground  of  Talleyrand's  divergence  from 
Napoleon — the  setting  up  of  thrones  for  his  family — was 


Zbc  IRencwal  of  XUar  237 

beginning  to  appear.  "  I  don't  understand  your  way  of 
doing  business  at  all,"  said  Napoleon  angrily  to  him, 
when  he  allowed  the  King  of  Prussia  to  state  that  the 
occupation  of  Hanover  had  been  forced  on  him.  There 
was  "business"  enough  to  do  in  the  six  months  that 
followed.  Besides  trouble  with  the  Vatican  and  renewed 
trouble  with  Austria,  as  well  as  the  establishment  of 
Louis  and  Joseph  in  Holland  and  Naples,  there  were 
important  negotiations  with  England,  Prussia,  Russia 
and  the  great  work  of  forming  the  Rhine  Confederation. 
Fox  had  returned  to  office  in  England,  and  had 
opened  communications  by  sending  information  to  Paris 
of  a  plot  (often  thought  to  be  a  diplomatic  one)  against 
the  Emperor's  life.  Talleyrand  eagerly  followed  up  the 
opening,  and  expressed  willingness  to  treat  with  England 
by  means  of  Lord  Yarmouth,  who  had  been  detained  as 
a  prisoner  at  Verdun.  Yarmouth  went  to  London  with 
an  assurance  that  France  was  not  hopelessly  fixed  as 
regards  Hanover,  and  returned  full  of  hope  on  June 
1 6th.  But  Napoleon's  vulpine  diplomacy  was  again 
overruling  Talleyrand.  He  had  forced  him  to  promise 
Prussia  secretly  that  France  would  not  sacrifice  Hanover, 
and  to  open  separate  negotiations  with  Russia.  The 
only  difficulties  that  Napoleon  recognised,  Talleyrand 
says,  were  those  that  force  cannot  overcome.  His 
minister  had  now  to  conduct  a  most  complex  and 
mendacious  communication  with  the  three  Powers,  though 
it  might  be  pleaded  in  extenuation  that  the  Powers  were 
also  endeavouring  to  outwit  each  other.     The  policy  of 


238  UallegranC) 

England  was  comparatively  straight — so  straight,  in  fact, 
that  it  was  her  minister  who  innocently  betrayed 
Napoleon's  duplicity.  But  while  England  refused  to 
negotiate  a  peace  independently  of  Russia,  that  Power 
was  endeavouring  to  make  a  separate  treaty  with  France, 
and  deceiving  England  as  to  her  unfriendly  designs  on 
Turkey  ;  while  she  was  at  the  same  time  concluding  a 
secret  agreement  against  France  with  Prussia.  The 
latter  Power,  secretly  signing  the  treaty  against  France 
on  July  ist  with  Russia,  was  receiving  from  Napoleon 
the  reassurance  of  Hanover  (already  promised  by  France 
to  England)  and  entertaining  proposals  from  him  for  her 
aggrandisement  in  Germany.  France  was  simultaneously 
offering  Hanover  to  England  and  Prussia,  was  secretly 
creating  a  great  German  confederation  and  denying  to 
England  and  Prussia  that  she  contemplated  any  changes 
in  Germany,  was  playing  with  England  until  she  could 
secure  the  separate  alliance  with  Russia,  and  was  secretly 
raising  opposition  to  the  latter  Power  in  Turkey.  And 
amidst  this  maze  of  negotiations  and  intrigue  Talleyrand 
was  coolly  creating  the  Rhine  Confederation  and  dealing 
with  the  huge  crowd  of  German  delegates  who  besieged 
the  Hotel  Galiffet  with  further  demands  for  plunder 
or  redress. 

This  network  of  intrigue  broke  by  its  own  weight, 
and  the  sword  of  Napoleon  did  the  rest  before  the  close 
of  the  year.  A  Russian  envoy  arrived  at  Paris  about 
the  very  date  when  the  Tsar  was  concluding  his  secret 
alliance    with    Prussia    against    Napoleon.        As    in    an 


Ubc  IRenevval  of  Mar  239 

earlier  episode  with  Austria,  the  envoy  was  worried  into 
going  far  beyond  his  powers  and  signing  a  treaty  with 
France.  He  afterwards  declared  that  Talleyrand  terrified 
him  with  a  threat  that,  unless  he  signed,  Austria  would 
again  be  attacked  and  annihilated.  As  soon  as  the 
Russian  envoy  had  gone  Talleyrand  turned  to  Lord 
Yarmouth,  and  threatened  that  Portugal  would  be 
invaded  unless  England  came  to  terms.  Yarmouth  in 
the  meantime  had  betrayed  to  the  Prussian  Ambassador 
the  French  offer  to  give  up  Hanover,  and  Napoleon 
intercepted  dispatches  in  which  the  Ambassador  urged 
his  Court  to  appeal  to  Russia.  Moreover,  Talleyrand 
had  denied  to  Yarmouth  that  any  changes  were  contem- 
plated in  Germany,  although  he  must  have  already 
completed  the  scheme  of  the  Rhine  Confederation,  and 
it  was  published  a  few  days  afterwards.  England  there- 
upon sent  Lord  Lauderdale  to  support,  and  eventually 
supersede,  Yarmouth.  Talleyrand  says  this  was  done 
"to  please  Lord  Grenville,"  but  his  dislike  of 
Lauderdale  is  clearly  due  to  the  fact  that  he  now  had 
stifFer  material  to  deal  with.  In  August  he  wrote 
to  Napoleon  :  "  The  claims  of  Lord  Lauderdale  over 
his  slain  sailor,  and  the  fuss  he  makes  of  the  affair, 
are  the  acts  of  a  man  who  has  been  all  his  life  a 
clubman  and  parliamentary  declaimer,  and  does  not 
know  that  an  incident  that  may  make  a  great 
scene  between  two  parties  is  generally  one  that 
vanishes  before  more  precise  information  and  moderate 
explanations." 


240  xraUe\?ran& 

Talleyrand  was  as  ardent  as  ever  for  peace  with 
England.  Napoleon  leaned  just  as  strongly  to  his 
continental  system  against  England.  The  march  of 
events  frustrated  Talleyrand's  pacific  aim  once  more. 
On  the  strength  of  his  treaty  with  Russia,  Napoleon 
made  Talleyrand  present  exorbitant  terms  to  Lauderdale, 
who  demanded  his  passports.  "Delay  him  a  little,"  said 
Napoleon  ;  "tell  him  I  am  hunting  and  will  be  back 
soon."  He  was  hoping  to  hear  of  the  ratification  of  the 
Russian  treaty.  He  heard  instead  that  the  Tsar  refused 
to  sign  it,  and  had  appointed  a  Gallophobe  minister. 
He  still,  however,  refused  to  meet  England  by  with- 
drawing his  demand  for  Sicily,  and  in  a  week  or  two 
the  whole  intrigue  came  to  a  close  in  war  with  Prussia. 

The  betrayal  of  Napoleon's  duplicity  in  regard  to 
Hanover  had  caused  a  very  natural  and  dangerous 
agitation  in  Prussia.  This  was  more  than  doubled 
when  the  Act  of  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine  was 
signed  and  published  in  July.  The  new  kings  created 
by  Napoleon  in  1805  (Wurtemburg,  Baden,  and 
Bavaria),  in  the  partition  of  the  ecclesiastical  territory 
on  the  Rhine,  had  attempted  to  exercise  the  full  feudal 
rights  of  the  old  Empire.  The  smaller  princes,  free 
towns,  and  "  immediate  "  nobles  appealed  against  them 
to  France,  and  a  fresh  settlement  was  necessary.  In 
co-operation  with  Bishop  Dalberg,  Talleyrand  (who  had 
now  a  new  ex-clerical  assistant,  La  Besnardiere)  began 
the  work  of  settling  disputes  and  drafting  the  chief  of 
the   smaller   states   into  a  Rhein-Bund,  to  be  controlled 


Ube  IRencwal  of  Xllar  241 

by  Napoleon.    Only  the  representatives  of  Wurtemberg, 

Baden,  and  Bavaria  were   to  be  admitted  to  a  share  in 

the  secret  construction,  but  the  rumour  of  it  brought  a 

flock   of  Teutonic  envoys   to  beset  the  Hotel  Galiffet, 

while   Prussian,    English,   and    Austrian    spies    hovered 

restlessly  about.     The  Act  was  completed  by  the  middle 

of  July,   and   all    the    south    German    princelings    were 

admitted  to  sign  it.     It  is  usual  to  point  out  here  that 

Talleyrand    once    more    reaped    a    rich   harvest   for   his 

work.       No    one    would    question    that    he,   as    usual, 

accepted    presents    from    the    States    that    benefitted    by 

admission.     But  here  again  charges  have  been  endorsed 

without  the  least  discrimination.     Count  von  Senfft,  who 

is  more  or  less  friendly  to  Talleyrand,   should   be   the 

safest   witness   to   rely  upon.     Senfft,  however,  tells  us 

that    Talleyrand    made    use    of  Von    Gagern    "  in    his 

financial  relations  with  the  German  princes  "  ;    whereas 

Von  Gagern,  while  confessing  a  belief  that   Talleyrand 

did  make  a  lot  of  money  somehow,  gives   us  his  solemn 

and  credible  assurance  that  not  a  farthing  passed  between 

them    in    connection    with    the    Rhine    Confederation.* 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Talleyrand's  profit  has  been 

grossly   exaggerated.     On    the    political  side    it    is    not 

questioned  that  the  new  creation  was  a  great  advantage 

to  France,  however  selfish  her  motive  may  have  been  ; 


*  Towards  the  close  of  his  "Memoirs"  (Mein  Anthiel  an  der  Politik," 
vol.  vi.)  he  again  emphatically  denies  that  "  zwischen  mir  und  ihm,  weder 
direct  noch  indirect,  sowohl  was  die  Nassauischcn  als  die  Zahlreichen 
andern  Fiirstern  betrifft  die  ich  in  den  Rheinbund  aufnehmen  liess,  zu 
irgend  einem  Handel,  Bedingung,  oder  Bieten  gekommen  sei." 

16 


242  TI;a^e^ran^ 

it  raised  a  bulwark  against  Prussia  and  Russia,  and 
provided  a  fresh  army  to  Napoleon  of  63,000  men.  Nor 
is  it  questioned  that  the  unification  and  the  adoption  of 
the  Napoleonic  Code  brought  great  advantages  to  the 
States  involved. 

The  work  of  the  year  seems  to  have  increased 
Napoleon's  appreciation  of  Talleyrand  in  spite  of 
occasional  suspicion  and  annoyance.  In  June  he 
bestowed  on  his  foreign  minister  the  papal  fief  of 
Benevento,  with  the  title  of  Prince.  He  had  appro- 
priated Benevento  and  Ponte  Corvo  on  the  ground 
that  they  led  to  incessant  friction  between  Rome  and 
Naples.  Talleyrand  merely  claims  that  his  rule  in 
Benevento  sheltered  that  little  principality  "from  all 
spoliation  and  from  conscription."  His  biographers 
have  not  done  him  justice  in  the  matter.  Not  only 
did  Talleyrand  abstain  from  making  profit  out  of  his 
gift,  but  he  at  once  dispatched  to  Italy  a  humane  and 
enlightened  governor,  and  had  a  policy  carried  out  in 
the  sleepy  and  retrograde  province  that  was  of  immense 
service  to  it.*  On  his  side  Talleyrand  seems  to  have 
retained  for  some  time  the  feeling  of  disappointment 
produced  by  Napoleon's  treatment  of  Austria.  There 
is  a  distinct  coolness  in  his  letters  throughout  the  spring 
and  summer.  But  Napoleon  overcame  his  repugnance, 
and  they  set  out  together  for  the  Prussian  campaign 
in  apparent  cordiality.  At  all  events  it  is  recorded  that 
Napoleon  wept  on  leaving  Talleyrand  at  Mayence. 

*  See  Demaria's  "  Benevento  sotto  il  Principe  Talleyrand." 


XTbe  IRenewal  of  umar  243 

If  Prussia  had  joined  with  the  Austrians  and 
Russians  before  Austerlitz,  Napoleon's  position  would 
have  been  very  serious.  He  contrived  to  keep 
Haugwitz  on  the  move  until  after  that  battle,  and  then 
persuaded  him  to  sign  an  alliance.  By  the  time  Prussia 
learned  how  much  she  was  really  despised  at  Paris — 
a  contempt  in  which  Talleyrand  now  entirely  joined 
with  D'Hauterive — Austria  was  powerless,  Russia  had 
demobilised,  and  England  was  so  far  alienated  that  her 
offer  of  assistance  only  arrived  after  Jena.  But  when 
the  news  of  the  secret  creation  of  the  Rhine  Confedera- 
tion came  on  top  of  the  exasperation  over  Hanover, 
the  national  temper  was  raised  to  white  heat,  and  the 
King  flung  out  a  single-handed  challenge  to  Napoleon. 
It  was  not  without  anxiety  that  Napoleon  confronted 
the  Prussian  forces  for  the  first  time  ;  and  Talleyrand 
expresses  real  concern  in  his  letters  from  Mayence, 
where  he  is  staying  with  the  Empress  and  the  Queen 
of  Holland.  "Three  days  without  news  of  you,"  he 
writes,  "are  three  centuries  of  anxiety  and  pain."  He 
warns  Napoleon  that  there  is  a  plot  to  assassinate  him 
amongst  the  Prussian  officers.  At  last  (October  14th) 
comes  the  report  of  Jena.  Within  one  month  of  their 
leaving  Paris  he  is  in  Berlin  with  Napoleon,  and  sees 
the  Emperor  proudly  dictating  notes  to  his  army  in  the 
cabinet  of  Frederick  the  Great. 

Talleyrand  remained  at  Berlin  until  the  end  of 
November,  but  Napoleon,  who  was  bent  on  crushing 
Prussia  as  he   had  crushed  Austria,   began  to  dispense 


244  Ualle^rant) 

with  the  services  of  his  moderate  councillor.  Talley- 
rand had  nothing  to  do  with  the  insulting  bulletins 
issued  from  the  Prussian  capital,  or  the  Berlin  Decree 
against  England.  Indeed,  he  affirms  that  in  view  of 
Napoleon's  attitude  towards  Prussia  and  Spain  (which 
had  just  shown  a  not  obscure  sign  of  revolt)  he  resolved 
to  resign  his  position  as  soon  as  they  returned  to 
France.  He  did  this,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  but  he  had 
much  to  see  and  to  do  before  reaching  Paris  once  more. 
Napoleon  brushed  aside  the  Prussian  negotiators  at 
Berlin,  and  marched  on  to  Posen  to  deal  with  Russia. 
Talleyrand  joined  him  there,  found  him  harangueing  a 
deputation  of  Poles  (got  up  by  Murat)  on  national 
greatness,  and  telling  them  they  will  be  a  nation  when 
they  furnish  him  with  an  army  of  40,000  men.  Talley- 
rand also  says  that  he  found  Napoleon  reading  a  list  of 
pictures  to  be  taken  to  Paris  from  the  Dresden  galleries, 
and  succeeded  in  preventing  the  raid.  They  moved  on 
to  Warsaw,  where  Napoleon  left  him  to  go  and  "  shove 
these  new  Europeans  [the  Russians]  back  into  their 
former  limits."  He  made  a  bad  beginning  at  Pultusk, 
but  returned  to  Warsaw  as  bombastic  as  ever,  and  spent 
several  weeks  in  infusing  military  ardour  into  Poland 
and  extracting  an  army  from  it.  Talleyrand  profited  by 
the  Emperor's  temporary  check  to  save  the  lives  of  a 
few  small  places  (Anhalt,  Lippe,  Waldeck,  Reuss,  and 
Schwartzburg)  by  including  them  in  the  Rhine  Confed- 
eration. Napoleon  wanted  them  for  Murat,  and  did 
not  thank  his  Foreign  Minister  for  again  thwarting  him. 


TLbc  IRenewal  of  Mar  245 

But  the  service  rendered  by  Talleyrand  to 
Napoleon  during  that  winter  in  Poland  was  consider- 
able. Napoleon  did  not  at  first  set  a  stirring  example. 
He  fell  into  a  period  of  sensuality,  and,  says  Talleyrand, 
"  laid  his  glory  publicly  enough  at  the  feet  of  a  beautiful 
Pole."  The  Countess  Anastase  Walewska,  then  only 
seventeen  years  old,  aspired  to  influence  the  Emperor 
in  the  interest  of  her  country,  and  only  succeeded  in 
making  the  winter  pass  pleasantly  for  him  at  the  castle 
of  Finkenstein.  Von  Gagern,  who  met  her  and  her 
son  afterwards  at  Paris,  was  at  Warsaw,  and  says  that 
Talleyrand  told  him  one  day  he  was  unwilling  any  longer 
to  be  "an  instrument  in  the  hand  of  the  destroying 
angel  of  Europe."  He  was  at  that  time  acting,  not  only 
as  diplomatic  minister  in  the  continuous  correspondence 
with  Austria  and  Prussia,  but  as  chief  military  agent. 
Napoleon  had  appointed  an  incompetent  governor  at 
Warsaw,  and  had  enjoined  Talleyrand  to  see  to  the 
commissariat  and  transport  of  the  army.  "  To-day," 
the  Emperor  writes  on  March  12th,  "the  fate  of 
Europe  and  the  greatest  calculations  depend  on  supplies. 
It  will  be  child's  play  to  beat  the  Russians  if  I  have 
food.  Whatever  you  do  will  be  done  well.  The 
charge  I  entrust  to  you  is  more  important  than  all  the 
negotiations  in  the  world."  The  hundred  letters  that 
Talleyrand  writes  to  him  during  those  four  months — 
letters  clearly  written  with  his  own  hand — reflect  an 
amazing  activity.  He  is  seeing,  amid  tremendous 
difficulties,   that   the   Emperor    gets    50,000    rations   of 


246  Uallei^raut) 

biscuits  and  2,000  pints  of  brandy,  and  so  on,  every 
day  :  he  has  had  to  settle  a  strike  of  the  transport 
servants  and  the  bakers  :  he  has  been  round  the  mili- 
tary hospitals,  distributing  gifts  from  the  Emperor, 
and  "listening  to  the  little  requests"  of  the  wounded 
soldiers  ;  he  sends  the  latest  information  about  the  state 
of  the  roads  and  the  finances,  the  movements  of  the 
enemy,  the  dissipations  of  the  Court  at  Warsaw,  the 
important  and  interesting  passages  in  the  French  and 
English  journals,  the  progress  of  negotiations  with 
Austria,  Turkey,  Prussia,  &c.  His  carriage  is  fired  at 
by  guerillas  as  he  travels,  or  sticks  in  the  mud  for  hours 
together.  He  has  at  times  to  put  up  with  the  most 
wretched  accommodation. 

But  Baron  von  Gagern  makes  a  superfluous  con- 
jecture when  he  fancies  the  laborious  stay  in  Poland 
had  any  influence  on  Talleyrand's  attitude  towards 
Napoleon.  There  are  more  obvious  grounds  for  the 
divergence.  On  the  whole,  Talleyrand's  feeling  at  this 
time  was  much  the  same  as  before  Ulm  and  Austerlitz. 
He  was  waiting  to  see  what  use  would  be  made  of  the 
new  successes.  He  sends  cordial  messages  to  the 
Emperor,  and  performs  his  heavy  duties  loyally  and 
well,  with  an  occasional  furtive  departure  for  some 
humane  motive.  One  day  he  comes  to  tell  Von 
Gagern  that  a  young  Prussian  count  is  in  the  Russian 
camp,  and  must  be  got  away  at  once  or  Napoleon  will 
hear  and  inflict  heavy  punishment.  Von  Gagern  learns 
through     Austria     that     the     Count     is      seriously    ill. 


Zbc  IRenewal  of  XQar  247 

**  That  is  a  mere  empty  phrase  to  the  Emperor,"  says 
Talleyrand,  and  insists  on  his  removal.  He  was  trans- 
ferred without  the  matter  coming  to  Napoleon's  ears, 
and  his  house  was  saved.  Von  Gagern  adds  that 
Talleyrand  refused  to  take  a  single  florin  for  the 
service  he  had  rendered. 

On  the  other  hand  he  refused  and  returned  four 
million  florins  that  were  put  in  the  hands  of  his  con- 
fidant. Baron  Dalberg,  by  the  Poles.  Talleyrand 
rather  despised  the  Poles  as  an  incompetent  and  quar- 
relsome people.  He  resisted  all  efforts  to  induce  him 
to  take  up  their  cause.  The  caresses  of  Princess 
Poniatowski  and  Countess  Tyszkiewicz  had  no  more 
effect  than  the  offer  of  money,  though  they  modified 
his  dislike  of  Poland,  and  made  him  say  in  the  end 
that  he  "quitted  it  with  regret." 

At  last  the  Russian  winter  dissolved  and  Napoleon 
moved  his  forces.  On  February  8th  came  the  news  of 
Eylau,  "  a  battle  more  or  less  won,"  Talleyrand  says. 
Von  Gagern  found  him  in  good  spirits  because  he  was 
empowered  to  offer  moderate  terms  to  Prussia,  but  the 
negotiations  fell  through,  and  he  had  to  wait  for  the 
decisive  overthrow  of  Russia.  It  was  about  this  time 
that  Napoleon  once  fell  asleep  in  the  room  with  him,  and 
Talleyrand  remained  in  his  chair  the  whole  night  so  as 
not  to  awake  him.  Then  came  Friedland  (June  14th), 
and  Talleyrand,  who  had  left  Warsaw  in  May,  made  a 
stirring  appeal  to  the  Emperor  for  peace.  He  trusts  it  is 
his  "  last  victory  "  and  a  "  guarantee  of  peace."     But  the 


248  tXalle^ranC) 

disappointment  of  the  preceding  year  was  to  be  repeated, 
and  he  was  to  see  Napoleon's  soaring  ambition  take  a 
flight  that  he  could  not  follow.  The  Tsar,  though 
he  knew  Austria  was  preparing  for  action  and  Tartar 
reinforcements  were  on  the  way,  arranged  an  armistice 
with  Napoleon,  and  Prussia  had  to  do  the  same.  The 
proceedings  that  followed  when  the  two  Emperors  met 
at  Tilsit  completed  Talleyrand's  repugnance  to 
Napoleon's  policy.  Victory  was  once  more  made  the 
step  to  a  further  war.  The  whole  of  Europe  was  now 
to  be  enlisted  against  England  in  the  long  dreamed  of 
"continental  system."  Alexander  was  exasperated  against 
England  for  her  failure  to  support  him,  and  listened 
eagerly  to  the  new  idea  of  sharing  the  world  between 
France  and  Russia  (Napoleon's  "  new  Europeans "  of 
nine  months  ago).  Whether  or  no  it  is  true  that 
Alexander's  first  words  to  Napoleon,  as  he  stepped  on 
to  the  raft  in  the  middle  of  the  Niemen  (which  fitted  so 
well  in  "the  poem  of  his  life,"  says  Talleyrand),  were  : 
"I  hate  the  English  as  much  as  you  do,  and  I  will  second 
you  in  all  your  projects  against  them,"*  the  whole 
arrangement  concluded  was  directed  against  England. 
Prussia  and  Russia  were  forced  into  the  continental 
system.  Prussia  was  humbled  to  the  dust,  and  reduced 
from  nine  to  four  million  inhabitants.  Talleyrand  says 
Alexander    thought    he    had    "  done    all   that  friendship 


*  I  give  the  quotation  with  a  hecoming  hesitation,  because,  though 
Mr.  H.  Rose  saj'S  "  it  is  difficult  to  see  on  what  evidence  this  story  rests," 
Professor  Sloane  says  the  words  are  "  reported  by  Napoleon  himself." 


ALrcXANDEk    1.,    EMPEROR    OF    RUSSIA. 


[p.  248. 


Ubc  IRencvval  of  Mar  249 

required  for  the  King  of  Prussia  in  nominally  preserving 
half  his  kingdom."  He  saw  the  Tsar's  eyes  sparkle 
when  Napoleon,  on  receiving  news  ot  the  deposition  of 
the  Sultan,  spoke  to  him,  "  with  an  air  of  submitting  to 
the  decrees  of  Providence,"  of  an  inevitable  dismember- 
ment of  Turkey.  But  Napoleon  told  Talleyrand  privately 
that  not  a  word  must  be  said  in  the  treaty  about  Turkey, 
or  about  Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  which  also  he  had 
dangled  before  the  eyes  of  the  Tsar. 

Talleyrand  was  disgusted  at  Napoleon's  brutal 
treatment  of  Prussia.  He  had  several  tender  interviews 
with  the  Prussian  Queen,  and  she  spoke  to  him  with 
great  feeling  at  her  departure.  He  had  also  several 
private  interviews  with  Alexander,  and,  although  he 
greatly  disliked  that  monarch's  betrayal  of  Prussia,  he 
won  an  influence  over  him  which  was  to  have  historic 
importance.  At  the  time  it  is  possible,  perhaps,  to  trace 
Talleyrand's  moderating  influence  in  one  or  two  details 
of  the  Treaty.  He  had,  however,  rigid  instructions  from 
Napoleon,  and  he  had  to  sign  the  treaty  with  Prussia 
without  having  had  any  share  in  making  it.  There  is  a 
story  of  his  betraying  the  secret  articles  to  England. 
It  rests  on  no  authority,  and  Mr.  Holland  Rose  has 
shown  in  his  "Napoleonic  Studies  "  that  it  is  completely 
untenable. 

He  returned  to  Paris  in  August,  and  immediately 
resigned  the  foreign  ministry.  The  separation  was  made 
in  apparent  amity.  In  a  letter  of  August  loth  (1807) 
Talleyrand  tells   the  Emperor  he  is  performing  his  last 


250  Ualle^ranb 

act  as  foreign  minister,  but  "  the  first  and  last  sentiment 
of  my  life  will  be  gratitude  and  devotion."  Napoleon 
was  no  less  polite.  He  created  a  rich  sinecure,  the 
Vice-grand  Electorship,  for  Talleyrand.  He  dropped 
his  pilot  with  grace  and  forged  ahead — towards  the 
rocks.  When  Paris  heard  of  Talleyrand's  new  appoint- 
ment, it  said  :   "Another  vice  for  him." 


CHAPTER   XIII 


AWAY    FROM    NAPOLEON 


The  legendary  version  of  Talleyrand's  character  that 
still  lingers  amongst  encyclopaedists  and  historians  is 
refuted  by  his  resignation  in  1807.  No  cause  can  be 
assigned  for  it  except  an  honest  refusal  to  co-operate 
further  with  Napoleon's  harsh  and  dangerous  and  selfish 
policy.  "  Napoleon  has  abandoned  the  cause  of  peoples 
and  is  bent  only  on  personal  glory.  He  has  entered  on 
the  fatal  path  of  nepotism,  in  which  I  shall  decline  to 
follow  him."  Talleyrand  said  this  in  1807,  not  as  a 
later  explanation  of  his  step.  To  Mme.  de  Remusat 
he  also  said,  in  the  same  year  :  "Napoleon  suspects  me 
whenever  I  speak  of  moderation  ;  if  he  ceases  to  believe 
me  you  will  see  with  what  folly  he  will  compromise 
himself  and  us."  We  are  offered  no  serious  alternative 
as  a  motive  of  Talleyrand's  retirement,  which  Count  von 
Senfft  describes  as  "very  honorable."  The  Emperor, 
says  Senfft,  wanted  "absolutely  submissive  instruments." 
Talleyrand  declined  to  be  one,  as  soon  as  the  tragic 
selfishness  of  Napoleon  was  fully  revealed.  No  one 
affected  not  to  understand  his  action.  It  was  a  protest — 
a  protest  made  at  the  height  of  Napoleon's  power.  He 
had   worked   loyally   and   well   with   the   Emperor   "  to 

251 


252  TTalle^ran^ 

establish  for  France  monarchical  institutions  which  should 
guarantee  the  authority  of  the  sovereign  by  restricting  it 
within  just  limits  ;  and  to  induce  Europe  not  to  grudge 
France  her  prosperity  and  glory."  Now  Napoleon's 
ambition  was  naked,  France  was  burdened  with  the  most 
exacting  and  ruinous  military  servitude  to  it,  humanity 
was  trodden  under  foot.  And  the  only  man  in  France 
to  refuse  further  service  was  the  man  who  is  glibly 
described  as  devoid  of  principle  or  ideal,  and  prepared 
at  all  times  to  sell  his  soul  to  the  wealthiest  master. 

So  little  obligation  is  felt  to  historical  facts  by  those 
early  and  malicious  biographers  of  Talleyrand,  on  whom 
our  historians  seem  to  rely,  that  Michaud  says  he  is 
"quite  sure"  Talleyrand  remained  even  after  Tilsit 
the  inspirer  of  Napoleon's  plans  of  conquest.  Michaud 
is  thinking  in  the  first  place  of  Napoleon's  descent  on 
Spain,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  it  requires  careful 
study  to  determine  Talleyrand's  attitude  on  this  subject. 
Just  before  Jena,  the  Spanish  minister,  Godoy,  had 
commenced  operations  for  war  against  some  unnamed 
Power,  which  all  knew  to  be  France,  and  Napoleon 
had  sworn  to  Talleyrand  that  he  would  extinguish  the 
Spanish  Bourbons.  When  the  news  of  Napoleon's 
success  reached  Madrid,  Godoy  endeavoured  to  undo 
his  terrible  blunder,  and  Napoleon  concealed  for  a  time 
the  claw  that  was  in  readiness  for  Spain.  They  returned 
to  Paris  in  August,  and  Napoleon  shortly  turned  his 
attention  to  the  Peninsula.  Portugal  had  refused  to 
join   in  the   blockade   against  England.      A   treaty   was 


Bwa^  from  IRapolcon  253 

signed  by  Spain  and  France,  dividing  it  (in  very 
unequal  fractions)  between  them,  and  the  French  troops 
crossed  the  Pyrenees. 

I  need  only  summarise  here  the  rapid  and  dis- 
graceful succession  of  events  in  Spain.  After  Portugal 
had  been  taken,  the  French  troops  remained  masters 
of  Spain.  In  March  the  Spanish  people,  threatened 
with  national  ruin  and  disgusted  with  their  incompetent 
and  scandalous  rulers,  effected  a  Revolution.  Charles  IV 
abdicated,  and  was  replaced  by  Ferdinand.  Napoleon 
arrived  at  Bayonne,  enticed  both  Ferdinand  and  the 
late  Royal  Family  there  by  a  trick,  and  forced  them 
to  abdicate.  He  wrote  to  Talleyrand  on  May  ist  : 
"  King  Charles  is  a  frank  and  good-looking  fellow.  The 
Queen's  sentimentality  and  history  are  written  on  her 
face — that  will  tell  you  enough.  Godoy  looks  like  a 
bull  .  .  .  He  had  better  be  relieved  of  any  imputation 
of  lying,  but  must  be  left  covered  with  a  thin  veil  ot 
contempt.  Ferdinand  is  a  brute,  very  malicious,  and 
very  hostile  to  France."  A  few  days  later  he  wrote 
again  to  say  that  Talleyrand  must  receive  and  guard 
the  Spanish  princes  at  the  mansion  he  had  just  bought 
at  Valen9ay.  "Your  mission  is  an  honourable  one," 
he  says,  sarcastically.  "  To  receive  and  entertain  three 
illustrious  personages  is  quite  in  keeping  with  the 
character  of  the   nation  and   with   your  rank." 

Talleyrand  affirms  in  the  memoirs  that  he  had 
entirely  disapproved  the  Spanish  expedition,  and  that 
Napoleon    sent  the  princes  to  him  in  order  to  make  it 


254  XTalle^rant) 

appear  that  he  approved.  His  enemies  and  Napoleon 
declare  that  he  fully  endorsed  and  urged  the  expedition 
until  its  evil  effects  were  clear,  and  then  disowned  it. 
We  have  here  another  of  the  "mysteries"  of  Talley- 
rand's career.  The  subject  had  arisen  while  he  was 
with  the  Emperor  in  Germany  and  Poland,  and, 
although  he  had  resigned  the  Foreign  Ministry  on 
their  return,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  he  ceased 
entirely  to  share  the  conduct  of  foreign  affairs.  Senfft 
says  that  his  successor  in  the  Ministry,  Champagny, 
so  bored  and  annoyed  Napoleon  by  the  contrast  of  his 
incompetence,  that  Talleyrand  was  practically  recalled 
to  office  in  October.  The  truth  seems  to  be  that  his 
Chancellorship,  which  gave  him  a  certain  formal  interest 
in  foreign  affairs,  was  interpreted  with  some  elasticity. 
For  a  time  Talleyrand  did  not  resist  this.  We  shall 
find  him  doing  important  work  presently.  He  had 
made  his  protest  sufficiently  clear. 

However,  in  the  matter  of  the  Spanish  expedition 
it  seems  possible  to  show  that  Talleyrand  had  little  or 
no  influence.  Did  he,  or  did  he  not,  approve  the  expe- 
dition, apart  from  the  treacherous  termination  ?  In  his 
memoirs  he  says  that  he  violently  opposed  this  "  insen- 
sate "  invasion,  and  that  "the  disgrace  which  my  candour 
brought  on  me  justifies  me  in  my  conscience  for  sepa- 
rating myself  from  his  policy  and  finally  from  his  person." 
This  was  written,  of  course,  after  all  the  world  saw 
the  blunder.  Thiers  concludes  that  he  recovered 
Napoleon's   favour  after  Tilsit    by   complaisance   in  his 


Hwa\>  from  IRapoleon  255 

Spanish  plans.  He  relies  on  Cambaceres,  who  is 
habitually  hostile  to  Talleyrand.  Pasquier,  another 
hostile  writer,  says  that  Talleyrand  urged  Napoleon  to 
make  war  on  Spain,  and  appropriate  the  crown. 
D'Hauterive  is  described  by  his  biographer  as  saying 
that  Talleyrand  was  "in  favour  of  the  expedition  on 
certain  conditions.''  Napoleon  declared  to  Las  Cases 
that  Talleyrand  "goaded  him  into  war."  Mme.  de 
Remusat,  generally  credible,  says  Talleyrand  "  was  in 
favour  of  an  open  declaration  of  war "  to  overthrow 
the  dynasty  in  the  interest  of  Spain.  Lytton  quotes 
Beugnot  for  his  belief  that  Talleyrand  opposed  the 
expedition  altogether  ;  and  Count  S6gur  quotes  de  Pradt 
virtually  to  the  same  effect. 

We  have  the  usual  conflict  of  evidence.  We  must 
at  once  distrust  Napoleon's  later  statements.  The  ex- 
Emperor  would  not  take  the  trouble  to  "lie  beautifully." 
He  forfeits  all  claim  to  be  heard  here  when  he  goes  on 
to  say  that  Talleyrand  urged  him  to  murder  the  Spanish 
princes!  I  am  just  as  ready  to  surrender  Talleyrand's 
statement  that  he  "  vehemently  opposed  "  the  expedi- 
tion. In  fact  he  also  says  :  "  Driven  to  death  by  the 
specious  arguments  of  the  Emperor,  I  advised  him  to 
occupy  Catalonia  until  he  should  be  able  to  conclude  a 
maritime  peace  with  England."  If  we  moderate  the  first 
few  words,  we  probably  have  here  the  truth  of  the 
matter  ;  though  it  is  very  possible  that  the  sight  of 
the  incompetence  of  the  royal  family  and  the  distress 
of    Spain   kept    his    mind    in    some    vacillation    as    to 


256  ZTalle^ranb 

the  intervention  of  France.  That  he  urged  Napoleon 
to  invade  and  annex  Spain  is  a  statement  made  by 
the  Emperor's  admirers  only  after  it  had  proved 
a  fatal  and  dishonourable  enterprise  ;  that  the  Emperor 
needed  any  such  urging  on  the  part  of  Talleyrand  is  a 
perfectly  ludicrous  supposition.  The  most  probable 
reading  of  the  situation  (as  regards  Spain)  before  the 
troops  cross  the  Pyrenees  is  that  Talleyrand  wavered 
between  two  motives — a  keen  perception  of  Spain's  evil 
plight  on  the  one  hand  and  of  Napoleon's  ambition  and 
nepotism  on  the  other — and  used  vaguely  approving 
language. 

The  final  action  of  Napoleon  was  determined  by 
the  course  of  events,  and  not  submitted  for  his  approval 
or  disapproval.  There  is  no  ambiguity  about  Talley- 
rand's attitude  on  that.  He  was  at  his  new  home  at 
Valen9ay  in  Touraine,  a  large  and  beautiful  chateau 
lying  in  an  extensive  park,  when  the  Spanish  royal 
carriage  arrived.  In  its  heavy  medieval  splendour,  with 
its  panels  of  gold  and  silver,  its  curtains  of  crimson  silk, 
and  its  huge  gilt  wheels,  it  reminded  him  painfully  of 
the  arrested  development  of  Spain.  He  received  the 
two  young  princes  and  their  uncle  with  some  feeling, 
and  then  set  out  for  Nantes  to  meet  Napoleon.  If  we 
may  trust  the  memoirs  (I  would  not  press  the  point), 
he  told  Napoleon  very  freely  what  he  thought  of  his 
stratagem.  "  It  is  one  thing  to  take  crowns,  another  thing 
to  steal  them,"  he  claims  to  have  said  ;  and  it  is  stated 
that  he  told  the  Emperor  that  many  irregularities,  such 


Bwa^  from  IHapoleon  257 

as  mistresses,  would  be  overlooked  in  a  gentleman,  but 
when  he  stooped  to  cheating  at  cards  he  forfeited  the 
name.  Napoleon  went  on  to  Paris,  and  Talleyrand 
returned  to  Valen^ay.  The  Emperor  paid  him  75,000 
francs  a  year  for  the  maintenance  of  the  princes,  but  he 
seems  to  have  treated  them  with  real  sympathy. 

The  task  of  entertaining  them  proved  difficult. 
They  had  not  a  single  accomplishment  that  counted  in 
the  code  of  a  French  gentleman.  The  attempt  to 
interest  them  in  books  was  a  complete  failure.  Talley- 
rand did,  indeed,  notice  with  some  consolation,  that 
the  pious  uncle,  Don  Antonio,  spent  long  hours  in  his 
valuable  library,  but  he  was  more  than  disappointed 
when  he  discovered  that  the  devout  Spaniard  had  been 
cutting  out  the  illustrations  from  rare  old  editions  of 
the  bible  and  the  classics,  to  protect  the  morals  of  his 
nephews.  It  is  usually  said,  and  was  certainly  generally 
believed  at  Paris,  that  Don  Carlos  repaid  his  host  by 
becoming  the  lover  of  Princess  Talleyrand.  "  Spain 
was  unlucky  for  both  of  us,"  said  Napoleon  to  him 
when  he  heard  this.  But  the  anonymous  biographer  of 
the  princess*  points  out  that  even  Mme.  de  Remusat 
(who  detested  the  princess)  does  not  expressly  accuse 
them  of  more  than  a  platonic  affection,  and  claims  that 
not  a  single  stain  rests  on  her  character  after  she  became 
Mme.  Talleyrand.  In  any  case,  Talleyrand  insisted  that 
they  should  be  treated  as  princes.  Napoleon  wrote  to 
complain  that  Ferdinand  was  addressing  him  as  "  mon 

*  "  Alls  dem  Eheleben  cines  Bischofs." 

17 


258  UaUe^rant) 

cousin,"  and  directed  that  he  be  taught  to  write  "  Sire." 
"  Ajaccio  and  St.  Helena  dispense  with  comment,"  says 
Talleyrand.  When  Colonel  Henri,  commanding  the 
military  guard,  made  himself  officious,  he  told  him  that 
the  Emperor  did  not  rule  at  Valen9ay.  But  in  the 
midst  of  his  efforts  to  teach  them  to  shoot  and  ride  and 
read  he  was  summoned  to  Paris.  The  princes  parted 
from  him  with  tears,  and  offered  him  their  old  prayer- 
books   as   souvenirs. 

Napoleon  had  in  February  suggested  a  second 
conference  with  the  Tsar.  At  that  time  he  was  offering 
Russia  Constantinople  and  impelling  it  to  a  descent  on 
India,  was  sending  an  army  against  Sweden,  and  was 
menacing  the  very  existence  of  Prussia  and  Austria. 
He  had  a  real  idea  of  dividing  the  Old  World  with 
Russia,  and  excluding  England  from  it.  Then  came 
news  of  the  rising  of  the  people  of  Spain  against  France, 
and  the  landing  of  the  English  in  Portugal.  Wellesley 
had  begun  his  historic  advance  towards  Paris  ;  though 
few  then  dreamed  of  the  end  of  it.  The  southern  trouble 
upset  Napoleon's  calculations  and  diverted  troops  from 
the  north.  He  fixed  September  27th  (1808)  for  the 
meeting  with  Alexander,  and  sent  for  Talleyrand  to 
accompany  him.  He  was  weary  of  Champagny  "  coming 
every  morning  to  excuse  his  blunders  of  the  previous 
day,"  Talleyrand  says.  At  all  events,  Talleyrand's 
experience  at  Tilsit  and  his  friendship  with  Alexander 
recommended  him.  Napoleon  directed  all  the  documents 
to  be  sent  to  him,  and  met  him  with  the  most  engaging 


Bwav  from  IRapoIeoit  259 

confidence  and  cordiality.  He  would  remember  later 
that  Talleyrand  was  already  talking  to  members  of  his 
Court  of  his  "vile  treachery"  in  Spain.  Talleyrand 
studied  the  correspondence,  and  "  at  once  made  up  his 
mind  to  prevent  the  spirit  of  enterprise  from  dominating 
this  singular  interview."  In  the  circumstances  we  can 
hardly  hold  that  his  acceptance  was  an  infringement  of 
the  dignity  of  his  resignation.  In  any  case,  his  position 
as  Grand  Chamberlain  compelled  him  to  go. 

So  in  September  Talleyrand  found  himself  on  the 
way  to  Erfurt  with  the  vast  apparatus  that  Napoleon  had 
dispatched  to  impress  his  allies.  The  road  from  Paris 
was  alive  with  couriers,  carriages,  officers  and  troops. 
Napoleon  had  ordered  the  whole  of  the  Comedie 
Fran9aise  to  go.  When  Dazincourt  asked  if  they  were 
to  play  comedies  or  tragedies,  he  replied  that  comedy 
was  not  appreciated  beyond  the  Rhine.  Dazincourt 
suggested  "  Athalie  "  amongst  other  tragedies.  "  What 
do  you  mean  ? "  he  said.  "  Do  you  think  I  want  to  get 
Joas  into  the  heads  of  these  Germans.?"  "These 
Germans,"  he  said  to  Talleyrand,  "are  still  talking  of 
d'Enghien.  We  must  raise  (agrandir)  their  standard  of 
morality.  I  am  not  thinking  of  Alexander.  Such  things 
are  nothing  to  a  Russian.  But  we  have  to  stir  the  men 
with  melancholic  ideas  who  abound  in  Germany."  He 
meant  thinkers  like  Goethe.  They  must  "  give  tragedies 
like  Cinna,"  and  he  sang  the  couplet  : 

Tous  CCS  crimes  d'Etat  qu'on  fait  pour  la  couronnc 
Lc  ciel  nous  en  absout  alors  qu'il  nous  la  donne 


26o  'Q:alle^ran^ 

The  first  actors  and  actresses  and  the  first  soldiers  in 
Europe  jostled  each  other  on  the  route.  Nothing  was  for- 
gotten. One  dignitary  was  included  "  to  do  the  honours 
of  our  actresses  for  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine." 

In  giving  Talleyrand  instructions  he  said  that  he 
wanted  a  treaty  which  would  pledge  him  to  nothing  in 
the  Levant  (the  chief  magnet  with  which  he  was  drawing 
Alexander),  secure  the  passivity  of  Austria,  and  leave  him 
free  to  do  what  he  liked  in  Spain  and  to  attack  England. 
Talleyrand  drew  one  up  in  two  days,  which  was  fairly 
satisfactory,  though  not  strong  enough  as  regards 
Austria.  His  last  direction  to  Talleyrand  was  to  see 
Alexander  often  in  private  and  feed  his  facile  imagination 
with  dreams.  "  There's  a  fine  field  for  your  philanthropic 
faculty  !  I  give  you  carte  blanche  in  it — only  let  it  be 
a  sufficiently  remote  philosophy.  Adieu  !  "  There  was 
just  one  point  that  the  great  impresario  overlooked,  or 
failed  to  appreciate  enough — the  change  in  Talleyrand's 
disposition.  His  Grand  Chamberlain  was  now  seriously 
determined  to  thwart  him  and  save  Austria.  "  If  he 
had  succeeded  at  Erfurt,"  Talleyrand  says,  "  he  would 
have  picked  a  quarrel  with  Austria  and  dealt  with  it  as 
he  had  done  with  Prussia."  In  the  end  he  signed  a 
totally  difi'erent  treaty  from  what  he  had  intended,  and 
the  Tsar  wrote  a  private  letter  to  reassure  the  Emperor 
of  Austria.  Talleyrand  claims,  not  incongruously,  that 
he  acted  in  Napoleon's  true  interest. 

To  understand  this  result  we  have  to  examine  the 
double  current  of  life  at  Erfurt.     While  Alexander  was 


Hwa^  from  Tftapolcon  261 

exposed  to  the  full  force  of  Napoleon's  ingenious  action 
every  day,  he  was  seeing  Talleyrand  privately  every  night 
and  being  put  on  his  guard.  Napoleon  arrived  on  the 
morning  of  the  27th  with  some  of  his  most  brilliant 
regiments,  the  crowds  having  lined  his  route  all  night. 
By  the  time  Alexander  arrived,  two  days  later,  there 
were  forty  monarchs  and  dukes  in  Erfurt  with  their 
Courts.  Napoleon  told  Talleyrand  he  was  delighted 
with  his  first  conversation  with  Alexander,  but  no 
business  must  be  touched  until  the  Tsar  is  thoroughly 
"  dazed  "  with  French  magnificence.  He  had  altered 
Talleyrand's  treaty,  making  the  terms  more  onerous  for 
Austria.  That  night  Talleyrand  went  to  take  tea  with 
the  Princess  de  la  Tour  et  Taxis.  Alexander  followed 
in  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  it  was  arranged  that  they 
should  meet  there  every  night  after  the  opera.  Talley- 
rand was  also  intimate  with  the  Austrian  ambassador. 
Baron  Vincent,  who  was  admitted  at  times  to  the 
nocturnal    tea-party. 

Thus  the  play  proceeded.  Napoleon  artfully 
arranged  long  dejeuners,  to  be  followed  by  hunts, 
reviews,  or  excursions  that  would  last  until  dinner, 
and  opera  to  close  the  day's  work.  There  was  no 
time  to  talk  business.  Every  opera  was  selected  by 
Napoleon.  He  foresaw  the  applause  when,  in  "  Mahomet," 
the  line  occurred  : 

"Qui  I'a  fait  roi  ?  Qui  I'a  couronne  .?  La  victoire." 
The  Grand  Chamberlain  saw  Napoleon  home  every 
night  (or  early  morning),  and  went  at  once  to  the  house 


262  xralle\>rant) 

of  the  discreet  princess.  After  a  few  days  Napoleon 
said  to  Alexander  that  they  must  speak  of  the  treaty, 
and  suggested  that  it  should  be  kept  to  themselves. 
That  night,  when  Alexander  came  to  the  princess's,  he 
bade  her  guard  the  door,  and  pulled  the  treaty  from 
his  pocket.  Talleyrand  implored  him  not  to  be  drawn 
into  any  engagement  to  the  detriment  of  Austria. 
Napoleon  complained  to  Talleyrand  that  he  could  *'  get 
nothing  out  of  Alexander."  He  must  leave  Austria 
alone,  and  trust  to  scare  it  with  the  secret  articles  of 
the  treaty.  Talleyrand  did  not  conceal  his  interest  in 
Austria,  but  was  told  to  continue  to  see  Alexander,  as 
Napoleon  wanted  to  part  on  good  terms.  He  did 
continue,  with  more  effect  than  Napoleon  imagined. 
When  asked  afterwards  if  he  had  not  been  imprudent, 
he  replied  :  "  I  have  never  been  betrayed  by  a  woman." 
From  the  first  day  he  had  said  to  Alexander  :  "  It  is 
for  you  to  save  Europe  by  making  a  stand  against 
Napoleon.  The  French  nation  is  civilised,  but  its  ruler 
is  not  ;  the  sovereign  of  Russia  is  civilised,  but  his 
people  are  not.  The  Russian  monarch  must  unite  with 
the  French  people." 

It  is  idle  casuistry  to  prove  that  this  was  not 
treachery  to  Napoleon.  It  was  done  in  pursuit  of  a 
deliberate  plan  to  thwart  him  in  the  interest  of  France. 
There  was  now  in  the  mind  of  Talleyrand  a  broad 
and  clear  distinction  between  the  needs  of  France  and 
the  ambition  of  its  Emperor,  or,  if  you  will.  Napoleon's 
view  of  its  needs.    Talleyrand's  view  is  admitted  to  have 


Hwap  from  fttapoleon  263 

been  more  statesmanlike.  The  only  question  is  whether 
Talleyrand  was  justified  in  accepting  service  under  the 
Emperor  with  the  determination  to  be  disloyal  to  his 
personal  views  for  the  good  of  the  country,  if  not  in 
his  own  real  interest.  However  that  question  may 
be  answered,  we  must  not  ignore  the  bearing  of  these 
episodes  on  the  chief  charge  against  Talleyrand's 
character.  Lord  Brougham,  in  his  otherwise  admirable 
sketch,  says  that  we  cannot  altogether  admire  a  man  who 
was  "always  on  the  side  of  success."  But  here  we  have 
Talleyrand  wielding  an  opposition  to  Napoleon  that 
would  almost  have  cost  him  his  life  if  it  had  become 
known,  at  the  very  summit  of  the  Emperor's  power, 
and  in  a  purely  patriotic  and  humane  interest.  The 
legendary  Talleyrand  would  not  have  dared  to  do  it — 
could  not  have  conceived  it.  Napoleon  never  discovered 
precisely  what  passed  in  the  princess's  house,  but  he 
knew  Talleyrand  was  meeting  Alexander  there,  and  that 
Talleyrand  was  a  convinced  pro-Austrian. 

The  Tsar  obtained  the  provinces  he  wanted  on 
the  Danube  without  being  pledged  to  more  than  an 
attack  on  Austria  if  she  joined  with  England  against 
France.  In  one  other  important  matter  Talleyrand 
more  or  less  deceived  Napoleon.  The  Emperor 
detained  him  one  night  with  a  pathetic  reference  to  his 
childlessness,  and  at  last  "  dropped  the  word  divorce." 
He  would  like  to  marry  one  of  Alexander's  sisters, 
and  Talleyrand  might,  "  as  a  Frenchman,"  suggest  the 
idea  to  the  Tsar.     Towards  two  o'clock  he  went  to  the 


264  Ualle^ran& 

usual  rendezvous,  and  found  the  Tsar  telling  the 
Princess  with  some  feeling  how  Napoleon  had  that 
morning  referred  to  his  want  of  an  heir.  It  had  been 
"  wrung  from  him."  Talleyrand  not  only  knew  the 
alliance  was  impossible  from  the  Russian  point  of  view, 
but  considered  it  inadvisable  for  the  country.  He  told 
the  Tsar  of  Napoleon's  wish,  and  they  agreed  to  humour 
him  for  the  time  by  suggesting  Anna,  who  was  only 
fourteen  years  old. 

The  long  series  of  fetes  and  spectacles  wore  on 
meantime.  One  day  Napoleon  sent  his  actors  to 
Weimar,  and,  after  a  hunt  on  the  very  field  of  Jena, 
entertained  the  princes  to  a  banquet.  The  opera  that 
night  was  unhappily  chosen,  "La  mort  de  Cesar,"  but 
a  ball  was  added  that  "  dissipated  the  impression." 
Napoleon  made  an  effort  to  dazzle  Goethe  and  Wieland 
with  the  brilliancy  of  his  culture.  Goethe  made  quiet 
and  neat  replies  to  the  Emperor's  forced  and  well- 
prepared  sallies  into  literature.  Talleyrand  has 
preserved  an  account  of  the  conversation,  but  omitted 
one  of  its  best  passages.  When  Napoleon  said  he  did 
not  like  the  end  of  "  Werther,"  Goethe  replied  :  "  I 
did  not  know  that  your  Majesty  liked  romances  to 
have  an  end."  Wieland  took  up  the  defence  of 
Tacitus  against  Napoleon.  "  I  agree,"  he  said,  "  that 
his  chief  aim  is  to  punish  tyrants  ;  but  he  denounces 
them  to  the  justice  of  the  ages  and  of  the  human  race." 
When,  on  the  day  before  his  departure,  the  crowd  of 
princes  and  nobles  gathered  about   Napoleon — "  I  did 


Bwa^  from  IRapoleon  265 

not  see  a  single  hand  pass  with  any  dignity  over  the 
lion's  mane,"  says  Talleyrand — he  turned  again  to  the 
literary  men,  and  asked  if  they  had  any  idealists  in 
Germany.  They  had  many.  "  I  pity  you,"  he  replied. 
"  These  philosophers  torture  themselves  with  the 
creation  of  systems.  They  will  search  in  vain  for  a 
better  one  than  Christianity,  which  reconciles  man  with 
himself,  and  at  the  same  time  assures  public  order  and 
the  tranquility  of  States."  The  feelings  of  the 
"  idealists  "  are  not  recorded.  Talleyrand  himself 
disappoints  us.  He  had  Goethe  to  dinner  one  evening, 
and  does  not  reproduce  a  word  of  the  conversation,  or 
devote  a  single  line  to  appreciation  of  the  greatest  man 
in  that  historic  gathering. 

When  they  returned  from  Paris  Napoleon  set  out 
for  Spain,  and  Talleyrand  settled  down  to  a  life  of 
comparative  quiet.  After  leaving  the  Hotel  GallfFet  he 
had  occupied  a  small  house  at  the  corner  of  the  rue 
d'Anjou,  but  he  now  bought  the  large  Hotel  de  Monaco 
in  the  rue  de  Varennes.  His  old  friends,  Narbonne  and 
Choiseul,  had  returned  to  Paris  and  helped  to  restore  In 
his  magnificent  salon  the  gaiety  and  wit  of  the  earlier 
days.  Other  groups  of  the  old  nobility  were  forming, 
and  no  figure  was  more  welcome  amongst  them  than  that 
of  the  ex-bishop.  At  the  Duchess  de  Laval's  he  met  once 
more  the  Duchess  de  Luynes,  the  Duchess  de  Fitzjames, 
the  Countess  Jaucourt,  Mme.  de  BaufFremont,  and  many 
another  great  lady  of  the  past  and  great  admirer  of  himself. 
The     Countess    Tyszklewicz,    who     had     "  cau2;ht     the 


266  'G;aUcv>ran^ 

complaint  of  falling  in  love  with  Talleyrand"  at  Warsaw, 
brought  a  strong  accession  of  fervour  to  the  cult.  The 
old  society  of  Paris  was  forming  the  nucleus  of  the  new, 
and,  with  a  dim  consciousness  of  their  work,  preparing 
the  scene  for  the  next  act  in  the  history  of  France.  From 
these  brilliant  and  envied  centres  daring  witticisms  crept 
abroad  and  began  to  circulate  in  Paris.  The  Napoleonic 
Court,  the  new  Foreign  Minister,  the  campaign  in  Spain, 
the  succession  to  the  throne,  were  fruitful  in  enlivening 
topics  of  conversation  over  the  tea  or  whist  tables. 
Possibly  the  story  of  Erfurt  was  discreetly  told ;  certainly 
the  story  of  the  Archduchess  Anna  would  prove  irre- 
pressible. There  were  more  serious  matters.  It  was 
observed  that  Talleyrand  was  reconciled  with  Fouche, 
and  it  was  known  that  they  were  daring  to  speculate 
on  the  contingency  of  a  Spanish  ball  finding  its  way  to 
the  Emperor's  heart  ;  though  the  kinder  of  the  myth- 
makers  declare  that  the  object  of  the  new  conspiracy  was 
merely  the  heart  of  a  certain  pretty  lady. 

By  this  time  the  Bonapartes  and  the  Beauharnais 
hated  Talleyrand.  He  had  never  concealed  his  small 
estimate  of  Napoleon's  brothers.  "  Say  what  you  like 
about  my  family,"  said  the  Emperor  with  a  laugh,  when 
he  asked  Talleyrand  to  speak  to  Alexander  about  his 
want  of  an  heir.  He  also  warned  him  that  Josephine 
knew  he  favoured  a  divorce.  They  and  the  Foreign 
Minister,  and  every  other  Napoleonist  that  had  been 
made  a  butt  of  royalist  wit,  now  joined  in  reporting  to 
the  Emperor,  when  he  returned  in  January,  the  latest 


H\va\?  from  IRapoleou  267 

misdeeds  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain.  Talleyrand 
had  written  amiable  letters  to  Napoleon  in  Spain.  He 
had  congratulated  him  on  his  victories  (with,  we  must 
remember,  the  usual  hope  that  they  will  be  made  a  step 
to  peace  and  the  real  good  of  Spain),  and  encouraged  his 
political  action  in  Paris.  The  Corps  Legislatif  was  giving 
trouble,  and  Talleyrand  agreed  that  it  might  be  extin- 
guished without  tyranny.  In  a  country  like  France  it 
was  only  necessary  to  have  sufficient  popular  representa- 
tion to  vote  supplies.  When,  therefore.  Napoleon  heard 
of  the  satirical  comments  on  his  campaign  and  the 
friendship  of  Talleyrand  and  Fouche,  he  determined  to 
strike. 

On  the  day  following  his  return,  when  Talleyrand 
and  the  other  Court  dignitaries  came  before  him,  he 
opened  the  sluices  of  his  Corsican  oratory.  "  He  became 
a  sub-lieutenant  once  more,"  says  Meneval  in  recalling 
his  language.  In  the  general  confusion  Talleyrand 
alone  stood  "like  a  rock,"  though  the  Emperor  even 
threatened  to  strike  him.  To  Napoleon's  brutal 
observation  :  "  You  did  not  tell  me  that  the  Duke  of 
San  Carlos  was  your  wife's  lover,"  he  quietly  retorted  : 
"  I  did  not  think  it  redounded  either  to  your  Majesty's 
honour  or  mine."  When  the  Duchess  de  Laval  asked 
him  afterwards  why  he  did  not  knock  Napoleon  down 
with  the  tongs,  he  said  he  was  "  too  lazy."  The  only 
remark  he  made  to  those  present,  when  the  Emperor  had 
exhausted  himself  and  departed,  was  :  "  What  a  pity 
that    such    a    great    man   had  not    a    better   education." 


268  Ualle^rant) 

We  are  often  asked  at  this  juncture  by  Talleyrand's 
biographers  to  deplore  the  lack  of  self-respect  that  he 
betrayed  in  not  seizing  the  tongs,  or  returning  the 
torrent  of  rhetoric.  If  he  had  been  a  bishop  the  same 
writers  would  ask  us  to  admire  his  superhuman  fortitude. 
The  general  reader  will  probably  prefer  an  intermediate 
attitude.  The  aphorism  quoted  by  Lord  Acton,  that 
such  conduct  belongs  to  one  who  is  either  more  or  less 
than  man,  is  pretty  but  absurd. 

It  is  just  four  years  from  the  date  of  this  incident 
to  Talleyrand's  last  interview  with  Napoleon.  Those 
four  years  are  full  of  adventure  and  life  for  the 
Napoleonist  writer,  but  they  offer  little  material  to 
the  biographer  of  Talleyrand.  Throughout  them  the 
scene  is  being  prepared  for  the  next  act.  Wellesley  is 
slowly  forcing  his  way  towards  the  Pyrenees.  The 
coalition  against  England  is  gradually  being  converted 
into  the  final  coalition  against  Napoleon.  Parisian 
society  is  falling  into  two  definite  groups,  Napoleonists 
and  people  who  whisper  to  each  other  that  the  Emperor 
has  no  guarantee  of  immortality — "  passengers,"  in  the 
words  which  Metternich  applies  to  Talleyrand  and 
Fouche  ;  "  passengers  who  see  the  helm  in  the  hands  of 
a  reckless  pilot  steering  straight  for  the  reefs,  and  are 
ready  to  sieze  the  tiller  as  soon  as  the  first  shock 
knocks  down  the  helmsman." 

Talleyrand  is  still,  it  will  be  remembered,  Vice- 
Grand  Elector,  and  member  ot  the  Supreme  Council. 
But    after    January,    1809,   he    has    little    influence    on 


Bwa^  from  IRapolcon  269 

the  fortunes  of  France,  and  is  continually  offending  the 
Emperor.  His  personal  relation  to  Napoleon  is  curious. 
Michaud  says  that  on  the  morning  after  the  storm  of 
January  23rd,  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  appear  at  the 
levee,  and  observers  could  see  no  trace  of  the  events  of 
the  previous  day  in  his  bearing.  The  Emperor  himself 
said  to  Roederer  a  few  days  later  that  "  his  feelings 
towards  Talleyrand  were  unchanged,"  and  he  would 
"  leave  him  his  dignities,"  but  would  not  have  him 
closely  associated  as  Chamberlain.  The  last  letter  of 
Talleyrand  to  Napoleon  that  we  have,  dated  April,  1 809, 
is  full  of  amiability  and  ostensible  devotion.  Three 
years  later,  when  he  loses  nearly  the  whole  of  his  fortune, 
he  applies  to  the  Emperor  through  Savary,  and  receives 
two  million  francs  for  his  hotel.  In  that  year  Napoleon 
even  wanted  to  recall  him  to  the  conduct  of  affairs.  It 
seems  as  if  the  two  men  retained,  below  all  their  political 
differences  and  personal  friction,  a  softening  memory 
of  their  joint  achievements.  But  their  divergence  in 
policy  was  too  serious  to  admit  further  co-operation. 
Napoleon  saw  all  his  hated  enemies  in  Paris  gather  about 
the  Hotel  Talleyrand,  and  set  his  spies  upon  it.  Talley- 
rand saw  the  Emperor  reel  fatally  towards  the  precipice. 
In  the  long  and  adventurous  negotiations  with  the 
Pope  in  1809  and  18 10  Talleyrand  had  no  part.  He 
saw  Napoleon  as  "successor  of  Charlemagne,"  confiscate 
the  last  of  the  temporal  power,  and  the  Ecclesiastical 
Council  at  Paris  (November  i6th,  1809,  to  January  i  ith, 
1 8 10)    trim    and   writhe   before   Napoleon's   theological 


270  UaUevran& 

queries.*  He  was  present  when  several  of  the  bishops 
were  summoned  to  Saint  Cloud,  after  Napoleon  had 
read  an  unsatisfactory  account  of  the  opening  of  their 
second  Council.  Napoleon  sat  in  the  midst  of  his 
Court,  drinking  coffee  poured  out  by  the  Empress,  and 
singled  out  his  uncle,  Cardinal  Fesch,  for  one  of  his 
characteristic  attacks.  But  "  the  Corsair  (Fesch  had  fitted 
out  more  than  one  privateer  in  1793-5)  re-appeared 
at  times  under  the  cassock  of  the  Archbishop."  The 
reply  was  as  Corsican  as  the  attack.  Napoleon  rushed 
on  from  blunder  to  blunder  in  the  historical  and 
theological  matters  he  was  daring  to  discuss.  "  You 
take  me  for  Louis  le  Debonnaire,"  he  roared,  "  I'm 
not.  I'm  Charlemagne."  The  negotiations  came  to 
nothing,  and  the  bishops  were  informed  "  by  the 
minister  of  police "  that  they  might  return  to  their 
dioceses. 

Talleyrand  was  an  idle  but  disgusted  witness  of  the 
subsequent  abduction  of  the  Pope,  and  the  final  defeat 
of  Napoleon's  aims.  In  January,  18  10,  he  was  present 
with  all  the  other  great  dignitaries  and  ministers  at  the 
conference  on  the  divorce  of  Josephine  and  re-marriage 
of  the   Emperor.     Few   knew,  as   Talleyrand   did,  that 

*  Such  as  the  following  :  "  His  Majesty,  who  may  justly  regard  him- 
self as  the  most  powerful  of  living  Christians,  would  feel  his  conscience 
aggrieved  if  he  paid  no  attention  to  the  complaints  of  the  German 
Churches,  which  the  Pope  has  neglected  these  ten  years.  As  Suzerain 
of  Germany,  heir  of  Charlemagne,  real  Emperor  of  the  West,  and  eldest 
son  of  the  Church,  he  desires  to  know  what  conduct  he  ought  to  pursue 
for  re-establishing  religion  amongst  the  peoples  of  Germany."  What  he 
wanted,  the  bishops  and  cardinals  knew  but  dared  not  suggest,  was  a 
sanction  of  tlie  secularisations. 


Hway  from  IWapolcon  271 

there  was  really  no  question  of  a  Russian  marriage, 
when  Napoleon  put  it  to  them  as  an  open  question. 
When  it  came  to  his  turn  to  speak,  he  advocated  an 
alliance  with  Austria.  Napoleon  thanked  and  dismissed 
them  ;  and  a  courier  was  dispatched  to  Vienna  the  same 
evening.  Talleyrand  was  present  at  the  marriage  in 
April.  He  heard  the  bells  of  Notre  Dame  ring  out 
the  ecclesiastical  share  in  the  general  joy  at  a  time  when 
the  Pope  was  Napoleon's  prisoner,  and  listened  to 
Austrian  congratulations  at  a  moment  when  the  fortifi- 
cations of  Vienna  were  being  blown  up  at  the  order  of 
its  conqueror.  A  month  or  two  afterwards  he  again 
gave  offence  to  the  Emperor.  Fouche  had  been 
detected  in  negotiation  with  England,  and  Napoleon 
consulted  his  Council  as  to  the  advisability  of  punishing 
him.  Most  of  the  members  thought  Fouche  should  be 
deposed,  but  could  suggest  no  substitute  for  that  astute 
chief  detective.  Talleyrand  said  to  his  neighbour  in  a 
stage-whisper  :  "  Fouche  has  certainly  done  very  wrong, 
and  I  would  find  a  substitute  for  him — but  it  would 
be  Fouche  himself."  This  led  to  Napoleon's  last 
extant  letter  to  him.  "Prince  of  Benevento,  I  have 
received  your  letter,  the  contents  of  which  pained 
me.  During  your  term  of  office  I  voluntarily  shut 
my  eyes  to  many  things.  1  regret  that  you  should 
have  thought  fit  to  take  a  step  that  revives  the 
memory  of  what  I  have  endeavoured,  and  will  still 
endeavour,  to  forget."  The  air  of  righteous  forbearance 
is  imposing. 


272  UaUe\>rant) 

In  the  spring  of  1812  the  difference  between  the 
two  seemed  to  be  bridged  for  a  time.  Talleyrand 
was  generously  assisted  by  the  Emperor  in  a  grave 
financial  crisis,  of  which  I  will  speak  presently,  and 
accepted  an  appointment  from  him  to  a  political  mission. 
With  the  long  story  of  Napoleon's  rupture  with  Russia 
and  the  opening  of  a  fresh  campaign  in  18 12  I  am 
not  concerned.  The  friction  between  the  two  Emperors 
turned  largely  on  the  question  of  Poland,  and  Napoleon 
resolved  to  send  Talleyrand  on  a  secret  mission  to  that 
country.  Some  affirm  that  he  cancelled  the  appoint- 
ment when  he  learned  that  Talleyrand  had  let  it  become 
known  to  Austria  by  sending  to  Vienna  for  a  supply 
of  ducats.  It  is  likely  enough  that  Talleyrand  would 
think  an  accidental  disclosure  of  his  mission  the  safest 
way  to  avoid  incurring  the  displeasure  of  Russia  or 
Austria.  Bulwer  Lytton,  however,  says  that  Napoleon 
did  not  press  the  appointment  because  he  found  it 
difficult  to  adjust  with  the  position  of  his  Foreign  Minister, 
who  was  to  accompany  him  on  the  campaign.  However 
that  may  be,  the  Emperor  does  not  seem  to  have  felt  any 
particular  resentment.  He  set  out  to  face  Russia.  It 
was  immediately  whispered  in  Paris  that  Talleyrand 
declared  it  "the  beginning  of  the  end." 

Since  his  deposition  from  the  chamberlainship  in 
1809  Talleyrand  had  spent  a  large  proportion  of  his  time 
in  the  country.  He  had  never  been  a  saving  man.  He 
liked  to  surround  himself  with  things  of  great  beauty, 
to  entertain  lavishly,  and  to  be  extremely  generous  to 


Hwai?  from  IRapoleon  273 

servants  and  friends.  Until  1 809  he  had  granted  a  pension 
of  60,000  a  year  to  his  mother,*  and  greatly  helped  other 
members  of  his  family.  He  had  now  only  the  income 
from  his  savings,  and  his  salary  as  Vice-Grand  Elector. 
His  establishment  in  Paris,  the  huge  Hotel  Monaco,  was 
very  exacting ;  Valen^ay  was  maintained  by  the  Emperor 
for  his  Spanish  "guests."  Savary  tells  us  that 
Talleyrand's  affairs  were  somewhat  straitened  from  18  10 
onwards,  and  he  had  often  to  appeal  for  the  payments 
for  Valen9ay.  In  the  general  depression  of  18 12  a  house 
failed  in  which  he  was  interested,  and  he  lost  fourteen 
million  francs.  Savary  says  that  he  appealed  through 
him  to  the  Emperor,  who  sent  his  architect  to  value  the 
Hotel  Monaco  with  all  its  furniture,  and  paid  him 
2,100,000  francs  for  it.  The  act  was  a  very  generous  one 
in  the  circumstances,  though  it  is  perhaps  not  ungracious 
to  recall  that  Napoleon's  plans  were  responsible  for  the 
deep  commercial  depression  of  the  time.  Talleyrand 
happened  to  have  a  debt  owing  from  the  former  Spanish 
ambassador,  and  he  now  accepted  that  nobleman's 
mansion,  the   Hotel   St.   Florentin,  in  discharge  of  it.f 

*  She  refused  this  when  he  married  Mme.  Grand.  Talleyrand,  with 
great  delicacy  and  generosity,  continued  to  paj  it,  unknown  to  her, 
through  his  brother ! 

t  I  have  earlier  described  the  sale  of  Talleyrand's  first  library  at 
London  in  1794.  I  have  seen  a  second  catalogue,  of  the  year  1S16,  in 
which  the  library  of  a  "  foreign  nobleman,  distinguished  for  his  diplomatic 
talents,"  is  put  up  at  Sothebj^'s.  This  must  have  been  taken  as  a  refer- 
ence to  Talleyrand,  and  the  King's  librarian  explicitly  describes  the  books 
as  his.  The  sale  lasted  eighteen  days  and  produced  £8,000.  But  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  believe  that  the  library  was  Talleyrand's.  The  books 
are  described  as  having  been  consigned  from  France  in  1814,  and  as  the 

18 


274  XTalle^rant) 

This  hotel  now  became  the  centre  of  discontent,  while 
the  salon  of  the  Duchess  de  Bassano  was  the  centre  of 
Napoleonism. 

The  following  year,  1813,  saw  considerable  move- 
ment in  the  political  barometers  at  Paris.  Napoleon 
had  returned  from  Moscow  about  the  middle  of 
December,  and  the  remnants  of  the  grand  army  were 
beginning  to  reach  France  when  he  called  a  special 
council  in  January  to  discuss  the  situation.  He  told 
those  present — chiefly  the  heads  of  the  foreign  office  and 
retired  foreign  ministers — that  he  desired  peace,  but  was 
in  a  position  still  to  wage  successful  war.  Should  he  await 
overtures  from  Russia,  or  open  negotiations  himself, 
either  directly  or  through  Austria  ?  Maret,  the  actual 
Foreign  Minister,  even  less  competent  than  Champagny, 
advocated  negotiations  through  Austria.  Talleyrand 
knew  that  Austria  was  seeking  to  detach  itself  from 
Napoleon,  and  to  pose  as  armed  mediator.  He  therefore 
gave  the  loyal  counsel  to  open  serious  negotiations  for 
peace  directly  with  Russia.  To  do  this  with  any  profit, 
however,  it  would  be  necessary  now  to  sacrifice  some  of 
France's  outlying  conquests,  and  Napoleon  would  not 
give  up  even  the  duchy  of  Warsaw,  and  would  not 
withdraw  from  Spain  unless  England  withdrew  from 
Sicily.  As  Talleyrand  happily  expressed  it  a  little  later, 
the  only  hope  of  safety  for  Napoleon  was  for  him  "  to 

finest  collection  ever  put  at  auction.  By  that  time  Talleyrand's  anxiety 
was  over,  and  he  could  not  have  taken  the  extreme  step  of  selling  a 
superb  library.  Either  the  books  were  sold  in  1812,  or  they  were  not 
Talleyrand's. 


P' 


TALLEYRAND 

(In  middle  age). 


[p.  274 


Hwav  from  IRapoleon  275 

become  King  of  France."  This  was  impossible  for  him. 
Talleyrand  retired  to  his  hotel,  to  play  whist  with  Louis, 
Dalberg,  and  de  Pradt,  and  to  keep  his  eyes  open. 

Within  a  few  weeks  the  whist-players  hear  that  the 
people  of  Prussia  have  arisen  and  forced  their  ruler  to 
take  up  the  war  against  Napoleon,  and  that  Austria  had 
concluded  a  truce  with  Russia  and  withdrawn  its  troops. 
In  April  they  see  Napoleon  set  out  for  Metz,  with  no 
word  from  his  Austrian  ally.  In  May  the  Napoleonists 
illuminate — somewhat  hastily.  The  Emperor  has  won 
Lutzen  and  Bautzen,  at  a  terrible  cost,  and  concluded  a 
forty  days'  armistice.  In  June  the  Bassano  Hotel 
darkens  again,  when  the  news  comes  that  England  has 
allied  itself  with  Sweden,  Russia,  and  Prussia,  and  that 
Wellington  is  sweeping  the  French  out  of  the  Peninsula. 
In  August  it  is  reported  that  Napoleon  has  rejected  the 
terms  offered  by  Austria  as  armed  mediator,  and  she  has 
joined  with  the  continent  against  France.  There  is  a 
momentary  flutter  when  a  victory  is  claimed  for  the 
Emperor  at  Dresden,  but  before  the  end  of  October 
comes  the  news  of  Leipzig,  and  the  tea-tables  and  whist- 
tables  buzz  with  excited  whispers.  For  the  second  time 
in  twelve  months  the  Emperor  is  flying  towards  France 
with  the  remnant  of  a  grand  army. 

Napoleon  arrived  in  Paris  on  November  9th.  His 
spies  and  supporters  could  bring  no  allegation  against 
Talleyrand,  who  had  become  a  very  quiet  spectator. 
Though  Napoleon's  outlying  empire  was  virtually  lost, 
the    allies    disclaimed    any  intention    of  deposing    him. 


276  xraUe^ran& 

If  he  had  been  content  to  retire  within  the  natural 
frontiers  of  France,  the  Alps,  the  Rhine,  and  the 
Pyrenees,  the  divisions  amongst  the  allies  would  have 
at  this  juncture  sufficed  to  give  him  peace.  Sick  of 
the  mediocrity  of  Champagny  and  Maret,  he  now 
offered  the  foreign  ministry  again  to  Talleyrand,  who 
refused  it,  saying  later  to  Savary  that  he  "did  not  care 
to  bury  himself  in  ruins."  As  he  writes  in  his 
memoirs,  Napoleon  was  only  ruined  in  the  sense  that 
he  could  not  forego  his  conquests  and  become  "  King 
of  France."  Talleyrand  had  no  intention  of  flattering 
his  hope  that  a  fresh  co-operation  of  the  two  would 
again  break  up  the  coalition  and  restore  the  empire. 
It  must  be  firmly  remembered  that  there  was  at  this 
time  no  question  of  restoring  the  Bourbons.  Talleyrand 
was  well  in  the  counsels  of  Austria  and  Russia,  and 
knew  that  the  declaration  of  the  Allies  was  sincere. 
His  refusal  meant  a  fresh  protest  against  the  incurable 
megalomania  of  the  Emperor.  Lytton,  who  proves 
that  Talleyrand  was  at  the  time  trying  to  inspire  the 
Emperor  with  thoughts  of  peace  and  moderation  (and 
we  know  from  Pasquier  that  he  even  sent  word  to 
Napoleon  of  the  impending  desertion  of  Bavaria),  says 
that  the  foreign  ministry  was  offered  to  him  on  condition 
that  he  gave  up  his  other  ofiice  and  its  salary.  This, 
he  points  out,  would  have  made  him  entirely  dependent 
on  a  co-operation  with  Napoleon's  policy. 

From  another  and  well-informed  source,  Mme.  de 
Remusat,  we  learn  that  Talleyrand  and  Napoleon  were 


avva^  trom  IRapolcon  277 

discussing  the  Spanish  situation  in  a  friendly  way. 
*' You  consult  me  as  if  we  were  not  on  bad  terms," 
said  Talleyrand.  "  Circumstances,  circumstances," 
replied  the  Emperor  ;  "  let  us  leave  the  past  and  the 
future  and  come  to  the  present."  "  Very  well,"  said 
Talleyrand,  "  you  have  no  choice.  You  have  made  a 
mistake,  and  you  must  say  so,  and,  as  far  as  possible, 
say  it  with  dignity."  He  advised  the  Emperor  to 
declare  that  his  object  had  been  "  to  free  the  Spanish 
people  from  the  yoke  of  a  detested  minister,"  and  that 
he  was  now  willing  to  restore  the  dynasty  and  withdraw 
his  troops.  The  tone  of  the  conversation,  as  given  in 
Mme.  Remusat,  is  quite  inconsistent  with  the  notion 
that  Talleyrand  had  urged  the  invasion  of  Spain.  The 
Due  de  Bassano  (Maret)  declares  that  he  persuaded 
the  Emperor  to  make  Ferdinand's  return  conditional 
on  the  consent  ot  the  Spanish  Regency,  and  so  delayed 
the  return  for  some  months,  and  threw  away  the 
Emperor's  chance  of  peace.  We  must  remember  how 
Maret  had  smarted  under  Talleyrand's  criticisms.  "  I 
never  saw  a  greater  donkey  than  Maret — unless  it  was 
the  Due  de  Bassano,"  he  once  said.  We  know  from 
a  private  letter  to  the  Duchess  of  Courland  that 
Talleyrand  foresaw  and  forewarned  Napoleon  of  the 
reluctance  of  the  Regency.  W^e  also  know  from 
Roederer  that  he  urged  in  December  the  unconditional 
return  ot  Ferdinand  to  Spain.  Napoleon  wanted  to 
release  his  armies  from  the  Peninsula,  but  at  the  same 
time   to   keep  the   English  from  passing  on  to  France. 


278  XTallei^ranD 

It  was  his  own  vacillation  between  his  hopes  and  fears 
that  prevented  him  from  making  definite  terms.  Over 
and  over  again  at  this  period  he  falls  back  on  Talleyrand's 
advice,  a  month  or  so  after  the  situation  has  changed 
against  him,  and  the  Allies  will  no  longer  entertain  it.* 

The  Spanish  princes  left  Valen9ay  on  March  3rd. 
Castellane  says  that  there  was  not  a  piece  of  furniture  or 
china  intact  in  the  chateau  after  their  six  years'  stay. 
They  left  a  memorial  in  the  shape  of  their  medieval 
chariot,  which  declined  to  move  towards  its  ancestral 
home,  and  was  long  exhibited  at  Valen^ay.  Talleyrand 
writes  a  singularly  bitter  passage  on  the  English  in 
describing  Ferdinand's  return.  He  complains  that, 
while  they  boasted  of  being  "  the  saviours  of  Spain," 
they  failed  to  secure  proper  guarantees  that  the 
unamiable  Ferdinand  should  not  abuse  his  power  on 
returning.  "They  only  hate  tyranny  abroad  when,  as 
under  Napoleon,  it  threatens  their  existence,  and  they 
love  to  make  the  subjection  of  peoples  turn  to  the  profit 
of  their  pride  and  their  prosperity."  One  would  like  to 
know  the  state  of  his  health  when  he  wrote  this  very 
exceptional  sentence. 

*  Napoleonists  are  naturally  very  ready  with  accusations  against 
Talleyrand  at  this  time.  Maret,  besides  impugning  his  advice  in  the 
matter  of  Ferdinand,  hints  that  he  secretly  sent  word  to  the  Allies  of  the 
state  of  feeling  in  France,  and  the  slight  resistance  the  Emperor  could 
make  to  their  advance.  It  is  impossible  to  weigh  seriously  irresponsible 
charges  of  that  kind.  Still  less  serious  is  Bourrienne's  statement  that 
he  advised  Napoleon  to  win  over  the  Duke  of  Wellington  by  offering 
him  the  throne  of  Spain.  Such  a  suggestion  ought  to  enable  English 
readers  to  appreciate  fully  the  recklessness  of  Napoleonist  charges  against 
Talleyrand. 


Hwap  from  IRapolcon  279 

The  last  interview  with  Napoleon  was  tempestuous. 
In  January  (18 14),  a  few  days  before  he  rejoined  the 
army,  the  Emperor  again  chose  a  public  occasion  to  abuse 
him,  and  threatened  to  punish  him  severely  on  the  first 
complaint.  "  You  are  a  coward,  a  traitor,  a  thief.  You 
don't  even  believe  in  God.  You  have  betrayed  and 
deceived  everybody.  You  would  sell  your  own  father." 
Talleyrand  stood  quietly  by  the  fire  ;  not  a  muscle  of 
his  face  or  body  was  seen  to  move.  One  of  the  witnesses 
told  Lytton  that  he  seemed  to  be  the  last  person  in  the 
room  interested  in  what  the  Emperor  said.  His  critics 
enlarge  here  again  on  his  "  lack  of  self-respect."  There 
could  not  be  a  more  perverse  and  malevolent  interpreta- 
tion of  an  admirable  bearing.  On  this  occasion, 
however,  Talleyrand  immediately  wrote  to  the  Emperor 
offering  to  resign  his  place  on  the  Council.  It  was  not 
accepted.  Napoleon  had  told  him  some  time  before 
that  if  anything  happened  to  himself  he  would  see  that 
Talleyrand  did  not  survive  him.  Within  a  few  months 
he  used  language  which  almost  implied  a  regret  that  he 
had  not  had  Talleyrand  shot.  They  never  saw  each 
other  again.  In  less  than  three  months  the  Empire  was 
at  an  end. 

In  a  private  letter  written  immediately  after  this 
incident  Talleyrand  spoke  of  it  with  great  moderation 
and  sadness.  His  correspondent  was  the  Duchess  of 
Courland,  who  now  appears,  almost  for  the  first  time,  in 
the  story  of  his  life.  There  is  no  other  woman  who  has 
been  addressed  by  him  with  such  passionate  and  devoted 


28o  ZTalle^ranO 

language  as  this  beautiful  Russo-German  princess.  After 
the  death  of  her  husband  in  1801  she  lived  chiefly  at 
Mittau,  but  paid  an  occasional  visit  to  Paris.  It  must 
have  been  during  one  of  these  visits  that  Talleyrand  first 
met  her.  We  do  not  know  the  year,  but  it  cannot  have 
been  long  before  he  sought  the  hand  of  her  daughter  for 
hi«  nephew  in  1808.  She  would  then  be  in  her  forty- 
seventh  year,  and  her  daughter,  Dorothy,  in  her  fifteenth. 
The  romanticists  (strongly  reinforced  in  this  instance  by 
the  fertile  imagination  of  George  Sand)  have,  of  course, 
given  a  sensual  character  to  the  attachment,  and  have 
thrown  out  ludicrous  hints  that  Dorothy  (born  years 
before  we  have  any  reason  to  think  he  had  met  the 
duchess  at  all),  who  succeeded  the  mother  in  his 
affections,  was  his  daughter.  All  this  is  pure  wantonness. 
We  can  understand  without  their  aid  the  ardent 
friendship  that  we  find  in  18 14  between  the  refined 
statesman  of  sixty  and  the  graceful  and  gracious  lady  of 
fifty-three.  She  was  a  woman  of  great  charm,  many 
accomplishments,  high  intelligence  and  character,  and  no 
mean  political  faculty.  "  No  woman  in  the  world  was 
more  worthy  of  adoration,"  said  Talleyrand  long  after- 
wards. The  score  ot  short  letters  he  wrote  her  during 
1 8 14  are  full  of  such  expressions  as  "  my  angel." 


CHAPTER   XIV 


THE     RESTORATION 


Napoleon  had  left  Paris  for  the  field  towards  the  close 
of  January,  and  the  strain  of  expectation  became  intense. 
All  knew  now  that  the  empire  trembled  in  the  balance. 
The  English  and  Spaniards  had  crossed  the  Pyrenees 
since  the  middle  of  November,  and  were  welcomed  by 
the  peasants  of  the  south  as  deliverers.  The  northern 
allies  had  crossed  the  Rhine  on  December  2ist.  Already 
the  imagination  could  see  Napoleon  and  his  capital 
hemmed  between  the  converging  forces.  The  group  of 
whist-players  at  the  Hotel  St.  Florentin  dropped  their 
voices  to  lower  whispers,  as  the  news  came  stealthily 
through  the  screen  of  spies  and  censors.  "  Burn  this 
letter  "  appears  time  after  time  at  the  foot  of  the  brief 
notes  to  the  Duchess  of  Courland.  In  one  letter  he  tells 
her  that  he  has  sent  a  totally  different  and  misleading 
message  by  post,  because  he  knows  it  will  be  opened. 
Another,  probably  sent  by  post  instead  of  the  usual  friendly 
bearer,  ends  with  the  postcript :  "  My  letters  are  opened. 
Those  who  read  them  will  discover  that  I  love  you, 
which  concerns  you  and  me  alone.  After  all,  I  only  send 
news  that  is  being  cried  in  the  streets.    This  interruption 

281 


282  Uallel5ran^ 

of  a  confidential  exchange  of  thoughts  is  sad  for  those 
who  wish  to  renounce  the  affairs  of  the  world." 

The  thoughts  of  the  hermit  were  then  as  vigorously 
bent  on  "the  affairs  of  the  world  "  as  ever  in  his  whole 
career.  Was  the  future  to  be  a  Napoleon  with  clipped 
wings  ^  Was  it  to  be  a  regency  ?  Bernadotte  .''  the 
Bourbons  ?  He  had  several  channels  of  information, 
and  was  not  affected  by  the  rigid  censorship  that  ruled 
Paris.  He  knew  well  the  march  of  military  events, 
but  was  painfully  perplexed  as  to  the  political  view  of 
the  Allies.  He  holds  in  his  memoirs  that  up  to  the 
middle  of  March  they  were  prepared  to  treat  with 
Napoleon,  and  hardly  gave  a  thought  to  the  Bourbons. 
But  the  Emperor  was  obstinate.  He  saw  with  rage  the 
vast  empire  slipping  from  his  grasp.  At  the  beginning 
of  February  he  sent  his  Foreign  Minister  to  treat  with 
the  Allies  at  Chatillon,  but  as  usual  insisted  on  terms  too 
arrogant  for  his  situation.  "  Talleyrand  would  have  got 
me  out  of  the  difficulty,"  he  said,  when  he  heard  of 
Caulaincourt's  failure.  It  was  not  the  first  time  the 
remark  had  been  wrung  from  him.  But  Talleyrand 
rightfully  says  he  could  have  done  nothing  of  the  kind. 
If  the  Emperor  had  gained  a  slight  success  the  day 
after  Talleyrand  had  secured  reasonable  terms,  he  would 
have  disowned  them. 

The  "  table  de  whist  " — a  phrase  of  the  time — 
listened  to  the  daily  messages  with  great  impatience. 
"The  man  is  a  corpse,  but  he  doesn't  stink  yet,"  said 
Dalberg   of  Napoleon.     "  All    he   can   hope   for   now," 


Xlbe  "IRestoration  283 

said  de  Pradt,  Archbishop  of  Malines,  another  of  the 
inner  group,  "  is  a  million  francs  and  a  frigate  at  Brest." 
Talleyrand  kept  quiet,  but  wrote  to  the  Duchess  of 
Courland  that  "uncertainty  was  the  worst  of  all  evils." 
He  was  being  closely  watched.  One  day  in  the  middle 
of  February  he  and  Baron  Louis,  Mgr.  de  Pradt,  and 
Dalberg  were  discussing  the  situation,  when  Savary,  the 
new  detective-in-chief,  burst  into  the  room.  "Ah!" 
he  said,  with  a  forced  laugh,  ''  I  catch  you  all  red- 
handed."  Towards  the  end  of  February  they  sent 
Baron  Vitrolles,  a  royalist,  to  the  representatives  of  the 
Allies  to  glean  something  of  their  intention  as  to  the 
future.  Dalberg  gave  him  as  credentials  his  seal  and 
the  names  of  two  Viennese  ladies  who  were  known  to 
Count  Stadion.  When  Vitrolles  asked  if  he  was  to 
have  no  message  from  Talleyrand,  Dalberg  said  :  "  You 
don't  know  that  monkey  :  he  won't  risk  burning  his 
finger  tips,  even  if  all  the  chestnuts  go  to  himself." 
He  was,  however,  given  a  short,  unsigned  note  in 
invisible  ink  for  Count  Nesselrode. 

Talleyrand  was  already  secretly  assured  of  the 
goodwill  of  Louis  XVIH.  Several  years  earlier,  when 
someone  suggested  that  he  ought  to  have  an  under- 
standing with  the  possible  king,  he  replied  that  his 
uncle,  the  Archbishop,  was  at  Hartwell.  At  the  same 
time  he  discharged  his  duties  as  Councillor  of  the 
Empress  to  the  best  of  his  judgment.  Napoleon  had 
warned  Joseph  against  his  advice,  and  had  even  ordered 
Savary  to   expel   him.     Savary   refused   on   the   ground 


284  TTalle^ranC) 

that  Talleyrand  alone  kept  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain 
in  check. 

Towards  the  close  of  March  news  came  that  the 
allied  forces  were  marching  on  Paris  —  were  already 
between  Napoleon  and  his  capital.  Country  folk  began 
to  pour  in,  flying  before  the  advancing  Prussians  and 
Russians.  On  the  evening  of  the  28th  Joseph  assembled 
the  Council  at  the  Tuileries  for  the  last  time.  Talleyrand 
advised  that  the  Empress  should  remain  in  Paris.  He 
spoke  on  a  perfectly  loyal  and  judicious  estimate  of 
the  circumstances,  and  nearly  every  member  of  the 
Council  agreed  with  him.  Then  Joseph  read  a  letter 
from  his  brother,  directing  the  retreat  of  the  Empress 
and  her  son  to  Blois.  The  members  of  the  Council 
were  to  follow.  As  Talleyrand  left  the  room  he 
halted  for  a  moment  at  the  top  of  the  staircase,  and 
said  to  Savary  :  "So  this  is  the  end  of  it  all!  Don't 
you  think  so  ?  The  Emperor  is  to  be  pitied,  but  he 
will  get  no  sympathy,  because  his  obstinacy  in  retaining 
such  incompetent  people  about  him  has  no  reasonable 
motive.  What  a  fool  !  To  give  his  name  to  an 
adventure,  when  he  might  have  given  it  to  his  age. 
We  must  see  what  is  to  be  done.  It  is  not  everybody 
who  cares  to  bury  himself  in  these  ruins."  The 
following  day  he  sent  two  envoys  to  the  head-quarters 
of  the  Allies  at  Dijon.  He  gave  them  a  letter  of 
introduction  to  Stein,  who  was  in  favour  of  a  restoration 
of  the  Bourbons,  and  who  was  urged  "  to  prevent  the 
frightful  consequences  of  a  wrong  choice." 


ZTbe  IRestoration  285 

Faster  ran  the  pace  when,  on  the  morning  of  the 
30th,  the  allied  armies  reached  the  outskirts  of  Paris. 
All  that  day  the  roar  of  artillery  and  the  rattle  of 
musketry  kept  people  in  suspense.  At  night  Marshals 
Marmont  and  Mortier  came  in,  black  with  dust  and 
smoke,  and  it  was  agreed  to  capitulate.  Talleyrand  had 
been  ordered  to  follow  the  Empress  to  Blois,  as  a 
member  of  her  Council.  He  asked  Savary  to  authorise 
him  to  stay,  but  the  Minister  refused,  and  instructed 
the  police  to  see  that  he  went.  Pasquier,  however, 
mentioned  to  him  the  barrier  at  which  Remusat  com- 
m.anded,  and  Talleyrand,  sending  a  message  to  his  friend 
Mme.  de  Remusat,  set  out  with  great  ceremony  in  his 
state  carriage.  He  was,  of  course,  forbidden  to  pass 
the  barrier,  and  returned  to  the  Hotel  St.  Florentin. 
In  his  judgment  Napoleon  was  not  yet  certified  to  be 
dead.  Michaud,  the  devoted  leader  of  the  "  true 
royalists  "  in  Paris,  who  were  contemptuously  ignored 
by  Talleyrand,  says  the  crowd  wanted  to  pitch  him  in 
the  Seine.  Michaud  was  to  write  Talleyrand's  bio- 
graphy as  soon  as  he  was  dead,  and  it  was  to  be 
taken  as  authoritative  by  judicious  people  like  Sainte 
Beuve. 

At  eight  in  the  morning  Count  Nesselrode  and  a 
Cossack  enter  Paris,  and  gallop  between  the  great 
crowds  to  the  Hotel  St.  Florentin.  Talleyrand,  just 
dressing,  covers  the  Russian  envoy  with  embraces  and 
powder.  While  they  are  talking,  a  message  comes  from 
the  Tsar   to    say  that  he   hears  the    Elysee    Palace,  in 


286  TTallesrant) 

which  he  was  to  stay,  has  been  undermined.  Talleyrand 
puts  his  hotel  at  the  Tsar's  disposal.  Nesselrode 
and  he  redact  a  proclamation,  and  entrust  the  printing 
of  it  to  Michaud.  At  two  in  the  afternoon  Caulain- 
court  comes  from  Napoleon.  At  four  the  allied  forces 
defile  along  the  Champs  Elysees,  and  Alexander  arrives. 
He  had  previously  given  orders  that  Talleyrand  was  to 
be  detained,  by  force,  if  necessary,  at  Paris  ;  he  was 
the  necessary  man.  Michaud  admits  that  his  activity 
was  "  prodigious  "  that  day.  In  the  evening  Alexander, 
the  King  of  Prussia,  Prince  Schwartzenberg  and  others 
discussed  the  situation  with  Talleyrand  and  Dalberg. 
Talleyrand  demanded  the  restoration  of  the  monarchy. 
"  With  the  return  of  the  Bourbons  France  would  cease 
to  be  gigantic,  and  would  become  great  once  more." 
To  the  foreigners  he  pointed  out  that  the  only  alterna- 
tive to  Napoleon  that  rested  on  a  principle  was  the 
re-establishment  of  the  Bourbons.  The  Tsar  was  not 
at  all  convinced  that  the  country  wanted  the  Bourbons, 
but  Talleyrand  promised  to  get  a  vote  of  the  Senate  to 
that  effect,  and  produced  the  Declaration  he  had  printed. 
When  Napoleon's  envoy  arrived  to  treat  with  the  Allies, 
Alexander  showed  him  the  Declaration.  The  reign  of 
Napoleon  was  over.  Talleyrand  had  restored  the 
monarchy.  Napoleon  remarked  when  he  heard  it  : 
"  Talleyrand  was  a  good  servant.  I  treated  him  badly 
without  making  him  powerless.  It  was  a  great  mistake. 
Now  he  has  taken  his  revenge  on  me.  The  Bourbons 
will  avenge  me  by  throwing  him  over  within  six  months." 


Ube  IRestoratton  287 

There  is  no  trace  in  the  whole  of  Talleyrand's  career 
of  "  revenge."  It  was,  like  zeal,  one  of  the  passions 
he  thought  it  unprofitable  to  cultivate.  He  restored 
the  monarchy,  partly  because  he  knew  Napoleon,  partly 
because  he  did  not  yet  know  Louis  XVIII.  He  knew 
Napoleon  would  never  sit  in  peace  within  the  old 
frontiers  of  France,  or  refrain  from  meddling  with  a 
regency.  Castellane  rightly  points  out  that  he  had 
much  to  fear  under  Louis,  but  would  have  had  an 
assured  influence  under  a  regency.  He  acted  in  what 
must  have  seemed  to  be  the  interest  of  the  country. 

He  at  once  set  to  work  to  secure  the  allegiance 
of  Paris.  Bourrienne,  Pasquier,  and  others  quickly 
deserted  Napoleon.  He  won  over  many  of  the  senators 
in  Paris,  and  sent  his  friends  to  others.  When  the 
Senate  met  under  his  presidency  on  April  ist,  it 
appointed  a  provisional  government  consisting  of — 
Michaud  bitterly  says — "the  whist-table,"  and  a  few 
others.  Talleyrand  was  president,  with  Dalberg,  Jaucourt, 
Beurnonville,  and  Montesquiou  as  colleagues,  and  Louis 
and  Beugnot  and  others  as  ministers.  Michaud  says 
they  helped  themselves  freely  to  the  funds.  Talleyrand 
claims  that  their  provisional  administration  was  a  miracle 
of  economy.  Its  budget  for  seventeen  busy  days  was 
only  two  million  francs.  On  the  following  day  the 
Senate  deposed  Napoleon,  with  rather  needless  emphasis. 
The  Legislative  Body  supported  it.  Benjamin  Constant 
wrote  to  congratulate  Talleyrand  on  having  "  at  once 
destroyed  tyranny  and  laid  the  foundations  of  liberty." 


288  TTaUepranb 

"  There  is  a  noble  consistency  in  your  life,"  he  said, 
"between  1789  and  1814."* 

Talleyrand  was  in  good  spirits  when  he  saw  the 
smooth  run  of  events.  His  friend  de  Pradt  was  piqued 
at  being  left  out  of  the  provisional  government,  and 
complained  that  he  had  no  opportunity  of  helping.  Talley- 
rand recollected  that  it  was  April  ist.  He  told  de  Pradt 
that  he  could  render  great  assistance  by  joining  in  an 
attempt  to  evoke  a  royalist  demonstration.  They  were 
both  to  leave  the  hotel  waving  their  white  handkerchiefs, 
and  proceed  in  different  directions  along  the  boulevards. 
Talleyrand  returned  to  the  hotel  as  soon  as  de  Pradt's 
back  was  turned,  and  left  the  Archbishop  to  run  the 
gauntlet  of  the  crowd  with  his  Bourbon  flag.  The 
National  Guard  had  refused  to  replace  the  tricolour  by 
the  white  cockade. f 

But  there  were  more  anxious  hours  before  the  final 
settlement.  Napoleon  had  still  a  considerable  force,  and 
talked  of  retaking  Paris.  On  April  4th  his  marshals 
forced  him  to  abdicate  in  favour  of  his  son,  and  three  of 
them  came  to  the  Hotel  St.  Florentin  to  inform  the 
Tsar.     The  provisional  government  was  at  that  moment 

*  The  di'ama  would  not  be  complete  without  the  suggestion  of  a  plot 
on  Talleyrand's  part  to  assassinate  Napoleon.     I  will  deal  with  this  later. 

t  A  stupid  story  is  told  by  Vaulabelle,  and  greatly  embroidered  by 
some  of  the  romanticists,  that  the  Duchess  of  Courland's  daughter  was 
seen  joining  in  wild  orgies  on  the  night  of  April  2nd,  and  riding  on 
horseback  behind  a  Cossack.  One  of  Talleyrand's  letters  to  the  duchess 
unconsciously  reveals  the  germ  of  this  monstrous  story.  Talleyrand  had 
sent  a  Cossack  escort  to  accompany  her  back  to  Paris  from  Rosny  that 
evening  on  account  of  the  mob. 


Zbc  IRcstoratlon  289 

assembled  in  Talleyrand's  rooms  on  the  ground  floor, 
and  had  drawn  up  the  invitation  to  the  King's  brother 
to  advance  to  Paris.  Alexander  now  spoke  again  in 
favour  of  a  regency,  and  Talleyrand  replied  that  it 
would  mean  the  Napoleonic  rule  in  disguise.  The 
Tsar  wavered  between  the  politicians  and  the  soldiers, 
until  at  last  a  messenger  broke  in  on  the  discussion  with 
the  news  that  one  of  Napoleon's  generals  had  deserted 
with  12,000  men.  On  the  5th  the  Allies  rejected 
Napoleon's  proposal  ;  on  the  6th  the  Senate  proclaimed 
Louis  XVIII,  and  Napoleon  abdicated  at  Fontainebleau. 
Then  began  the  pitiful  story  of  the  men  who 
"  forgot  nothing  and  learned  nothing,"  the  King  and  his 
emigrant  courtiers.  Imagining  that  Europe  had,  out  of 
respect  for  the  divine  right  of  kings,  drawn  the  flat  of  its 
style  over  the  tablets  of  the  last  twenty  years,  they 
marched  into  France  without  a  glance  at  the  real  spirit 
of  the  people.  A  messenger  came  to  tell  Talleyrand 
that  the  Count  d'Artois  would  make  his  entry  into  Paris 
on  April  1 2th  as  the  King's  deputy.  Talleyrand  calmly 
told  him  he  was  ready  to  hand  over  the  reins  of  the 
provisional  government  to  him..  He  had  worked  with 
the  Senate  for  days  at  a  constitution  after  the  model  of 
the  English,  with  a  hereditary  Senate,  an  elective  second 
chamber,  freedom  of  worship,  and  open  access  to  office 
for  all  Frenchmen.  They  invited  the  late  King's  brother 
to  ascend  the  throne  as  soon  as  he  would  adopt  on  oath 
the  new  constitution.  This  meant  to  the  infatuated 
royalists  that  the  roots  of  republicanism  were  still  alive. 

19 


290  XTalle^ranb 

The  Tsar  was  less  patient  of  their  folly  than  Talleyrand. 
He  gave  them  to  understand  that  the  King  would  forfeit 
the  support  of  Europe  if  he  did  not  accept  the 
constitution  ;  though  Talleyrand  admitted  the  possibility 
of  changes  in  detail. 

The  Count  d'Artois  greeted  Talleyrand  with 
cordiality,  and  was  too  overcome  with  emotion  to  do 
more  than  stammer  an  expression  of  his  joy.  Beugnot 
tells  how  Talleyrand  directed  him  afterwards  to  report, 
or  rather  construct,  the  scene  for  the  Moniteur.  After 
several  attempts  Beugnot  made  the  Prince  say  : 
"  Nothing  is  changed.  There  is  one  Frenchman  more 
in  France — that  is  all."  "  That  is  what  he  did  say," 
said  Talleyrand  ;  "I  answer  for  it."  The  pretty  speech — 
leagues  removed  from  the  real  one — was  scattered  over 
the  country  in  the  Moniteur.  Talleyrand  had  once 
defended  d'Artois  against  Napoleon's  disdain,  but  he 
now  saw  with  concern  that  the  Prince's  watch  had 
stopped  at  1789.  To  the  address  of  the  Senate, 
delivered  by  Talleyrand,  he  only  replied  with  a  vague 
assurance  that  the  King  would  be  sure  to  accept  the 
main  lines  of  their  constitution.  Dispatching  a  Liberal 
noble,  the  Duke  de  Liancourt,  to  Hartwell,  Talleyrand 
turned  to  the  negotiations  with  the  Allies  until  the  King 
should  arrive. 

When  someone  had  expressed  to  him  a  fear  that  the 
King  might  prove  unreasonable,  Talleyrand  replied 
optimistically  that  Nature  had  put  a  man's  eyes  in  front, 
not  at  the  back,   of  his  head.     It  was,   however,  with 


Zbc  IRestoration  291 

grave  misgiving  that  he  went  to  meet  Louis  XVIII  at 
Compiegne  on  April  29th.  Cold,  cynical  and  selfish  in 
person,  surrounded  by  evil  and  incompetent  councillors, 
folded  complacently  in  the  outworn  mantle  of  Capetian 
divinity,  Louis  XVIII  came  rather  with  an  idea  ot 
forgiveness  than  of  conciliation.  He  had  enough 
perception  of  the  situation  to  admit  in  the  letter  some 
scheme  of  constitutional  monarchy,  but  he  had  not 
surrendered  a  particle  of  the  medieval  doctrine  of  divine 
right.  Nothing  was  more  remote  from  his  mind  than 
the  idea  of  receiving  sovereignty  from  the  people  and 
holding  it  on  their  conditions.  With  such  a  man 
co-operation  was  only  possible  as  long  as  Talleyrand 
could  prove  himself  to  be  indispensable.  He  was 
steeped  in  the  convenient  fiction  that  ministers  serve 
the  crown,  so  that  its  wearer  escapes  the  burden  of 
ingratitude.  For  such  men  Talleyrand  would  soon 
say,  bitterly  enough,  "  By  the  grace  of  God "  is  a 
protocol  of  ingratitude.  As  to  the  King's  surroundings 
he  had  no  illusion.  When  someone  asked  him  whether 
he  thought  them  capable  of  saving  France,  he  replied  : 
*' Why  not  ?     The  geese  saved  the  Capitol." 

King  and  king-maker  met  at  the  royal  chateau  of 
Compiegne.  Talleyrand  declares  that  the  King  received 
him  with  compliments  ;  an  eye-witness,  Beugnot, 
describes    him    as    ironically    polite    and   very    kingly.* 

*  Talleyrand  probably  gives  the  more  correct  version.  Both  he  and 
Beugnot  make  the  King  say:  "  We  were  the  cleverer.  If  you  had  been 
so,  you  would  say  to  me  :  '  Let  us  sit  down  and  talk.'  Instead  of  that  I 
say  to  you:     'Take  a  seat  and  talk  to  me.'"     Talleyrand  says  the  King 


292  Ualle^ran^ 

When  Talleyrand  broached  the  subject  of  the  consti- 
tution, the  King  brushed  aside  his  plea  for  tact  and 
consideration  with  a  courtly  sneer.  "  You  wish  me  to 
accept  a  constitution  from  you,  and  you  don't  wish  to 
accept  a  constitution  from  me.  That  is  very  natural  ; 
but  in  that  case,  my  dear  M.  Talleyrand,  I  should  be 
standing  and  you  seated."  Talleyrand  saw  that  his 
worst  fears  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  returned  emigrants 
— whom  he  would  soon  call  "  the  foreigners  of  the 
interior" — were  likely  to  be  realised.  In  the  end  the 
King  asked  him,  with  some  suspicion  of  irony,  how  he 
had  been  able  to  upset  in  succession  the  Directory  and 
Bonaparte.  Talleyrand  saw  his  opportunity.  "  I  did 
nothing  at  all.  Sire,"  he  replied.  "There  seems  to  be 
an  inexplicable  something  in  me  that  brings  bad  luck 
to  governments  that  neglect  me."  This,  at  all  events, 
is  the  current  version  of  the  interview.  The  mythopaeic 
faculty  has  evidently  been  at  work.  It  is  safe  to 
assume  that  the  King  was  cold,  cynical,  polite  and 
tactless. 

Two  days  later  the  Tsar  reached  Compiegne,  and 
endeavoured  in  vain  to  induce  the  King  to  surrender 
his  illusions.  The  Senate  was  also  brought  from  Paris, 
and  was  introduced  by  Talleyrand.  "  You  succeed  to 
twenty  years  of  ruin  and  misery.     Such  a  heritage  might 

was  speaking  of  their  remote  ancestors  and  the  relative  positions  their 
families  had  won  in  France.  Beugnot  would  have  it  that  the  emigrant 
party  had  been  the  cleverer  in  1789.  But  it  is  impossible  to  understand 
the  words  in  this  sense.  They  would  imply  that  Talleyrand  had  aimed 
at  the  throne. 


Fioin  ,111  i/igi  ,17  i:it^,  a/t,r  A'/.  /.'V/«>v  I'v  J/iwt  I'lUii-rs. 
LOIIS-   XVIII. 


[p.  292. 


Zbc  IRestoration  293 

frighten  an  ordinary  virtue,"  he  said  gravely  to  the 
pompous  mediocrity  before  him.  His  sense  of  humour 
seems  to  have  failed  him  when,  after  pleading  for  a 
"  constitutional  charter,"  he  went  on  :  "  Tou  know  even 
better  than  we  do,  Sire,  that  such  institutions,  so  well 
approved  among  a  neighbouring  people,  lend  support 
to,  and  do  not  put  restraint  on,  monarchs  who  love 
the  laws  and  are  the  fathers  of  their  people."  It  was 
all  of  very  little  avail.  An  English  caricature  of  the 
time  represents  the  banquet  at  Compiegne  that  night, 
with  the  Tsar,  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  the  King  of 
Prussia,  Prince  Schwartzenberg,  BlQcher,  Bernadotte, 
and  the  leading  figures  amongst  the  Allies  and  in  France 
around  the  tables.  Talleyrand  sits  in  silence  at  one  end 
of  the  room,  but  a  thread  passes  from  his  hand  to  each 
of  the  other  diners,  as  if  they  were  puppets  under  his 
control.  The  truth  is  that  Talleyrand  had  now  encoun- 
tered one  of  the  most  serious  difficulties  of  his  career. 
All  his  diplomacy  fell  before  the  royal  system  of  filling 
the  ante-chamber  with  sleek,  cunning,  incompetent 
favourites  and  flatterers.  The  King  refused  to  take 
the  oath  to  the  new  constitution,  or  to  adopt  the 
moderate  proclamation  prepared  by  Talleyrand.  His 
satellites  prepared  one  more  in  accord  with  his  inflated 
pretensions — the  Declaration  of  St.  Ouen — and  posted 
it  throughout  Paris.  It  gave  a  constitution  to  the 
nation  instead  of  receiving  one  from  the  people's  repre- 
sentatives. Providence  had  restored  the  throne,  and 
to  Providence,  rather  than  statesmanship,  it  was   to  be 


294  xraUe^ran& 

confided.  In  ten  months  the  king  would  be  flying 
ignobly  for  the  frontier. 

However,  Louis  XVIII  had  accepted  the  substance 
of  Talleyrand's  constitution,  and  he  gave  the  guarantees 
which  were  to  dispel  the  expectation  of  vindictiveness. 
Talleyrand  returned  to  Paris  to  prepare  for  his  reception, 
which  was  at  least  orderly.  A  few  days  afterwards  he 
was  appointed  Foreign  Minister  and  Grand  Almoner  to 
the  King's  household.  There  is  a  story  that  after  he 
had  taken  the  oath  of  loyalty  to  the  King  he  observed 
to  him  :  "That  is  my  thirteenth  oath  of  loyalty,  Sire, 
and  I  trust  it  will  be  the  last."  History  had  another  in 
reserve  for  him — the  oath  to  Louis  Philippe.  Although 
he  afterwards  spoke  strongly  of  the  peers  who  had 
"violated  the  religion  of  the  oath  "  during  the  Hundred 
Days,  he  had  not  a  great  awe  of  that  ceremony.  He  is 
said  to  have  described  it  once  as  "  the  ticket  you  take 
at  the  door  of  the  theatre."  Speaking  once  of  cheeses, 
he  declared  that  the  Brie  was  the  king  of  cheeses  ;  he 
had  thought  so  in  his  youth  and  thought  so  still. 
Eugene  Sue  observed  that  he  had  "taken  no  oath  to 
that  royalty."  On  another  occasion,  when  he  had  to 
administer  the  oath  to  a  pretty  lady,  he  said,  with  a 
glance  at  her  ankles  :  "  That  is  a  very  short  skirt  to 
take  an  oath  of  fidelity  in." 

Not  only  was  Talleyrand  omitted  from  the  com- 
mittee appointed  to  frame  the  new  constitution,  but  its 
members  were  strictly  forbidden  to  confer  with  him  on 
the  subject.      He  was  jealously  excluded  from  influence 


XTbe  IRestoration  295 

on  home  affairs,  and  he  saw  with  increasing  bitterness 
the  gradual  emergence  of  the  worst  faults  of  the  old 
regime.  One  of  the  restored  nobles  went  about  com- 
plaining that  he  did  not  feel  free  as  long  as  the  press 
was  free.  Another  was  advocating  that  the  King's 
ministers  must  be  "people  of  quality,"  with  the  real 
workers  as  drudges  under  their  control.  But  the  task 
of  completing  the  settlement  with  the  Allies  still 
engrossed  his  attention  for  some  time.  Barante 
describes  how  Nesselrode  or  Metternich  or  other 
ministers  would  drop  in  as  Talleyrand  was  dressing  in 
the  morning,  and  discuss  the  situation.  It  was  no  light 
work  to  effect  a  generous  settlement,  with  the  King 
forcing  on  him  exorbitant  pretensions  and  the  Prussians 
thirsting  to  avenge  Jena.  Talleyrand  succeeded  by  his 
personal  influence  in  attaching  England  and  Austria, 
and  so  defeating  the  righteous  demands  of  Prussia. 
In  the  end  he  was  able  to  hand  over  to  the  King 
a  considerably  larger  France  than  Louis  XVI 
had  ruled,  an  army  of  300,000  men,  all  the 
works  of  art  that  the  Directory  and  Napoleon 
had  "imported,"  and  a  complete  acquittance  of  all  claims 
for  indemnity.  While  foreign  ministers  were  being 
severely  censured  for  admitting  such  terms,  Talleyrand 
had  to  listen  to  vapid  complaints  of  their  insufficiency 
amongst  the  Court  party.  The  King's  young  nephew, 
the  Due  de  Berry,  was  especially  talkative.  "  You  seem 
to  have  been  in  a  great  hurry  to  sign  that  unhappy 
treaty,"  he   said   one  day.      "  Yes,  Monseigneur,"  said 


296  XTalle^ranO 

Talleyrand.  "  I  was  in  a  great  hurry.  There  are 
senators  who  say  I  was  in  a  great  hurry  to  get  the  crown 
offered  to  your  royal  house."  Another  day  the 
pretentious  young  prince  was  boasting  what  they  would 
do  with  the  army  that  had  been  restored  to  France  by 
Talleyrand  surrendering  the  fortresses.  Talleyrand,  who 
was  sitting  quietly  near,  got  up  and  blandly  reminded 
him  that  this  army  had  been  obtained  by  the  "  unhappy 
treaty "  he  had  signed  with  the  Allies.  He  actually 
heard  courtiers  talk  of  making  war  on  the  Allies  with 
this  army.  The  Tsar  was  deeply  disgusted,  and  began 
to  regret  the  return  of  the  Bourbons.  Talleyrand  made 
every  effort  to  prevent  his  alienation  from  the  King. 
"  The  King  has  studied  our  history  :  he  knows  us. 
Liberal  principles  are  advancing  with  the  spirit  of  the 
age."  He  wrote  these  things  at  a  time  when  he  saw  the 
whole  country  being  disposed  to  welcome  a  return  of 
Napoleon. 

The  three  months  that  followed  the  conclusion  of 
the  treaty  with  the  Allies  were  spent  in  preparation  for 
the  coming  Congress  and  uneasy  observation  of  internal 
development.  Some  of  the  smaller  sovereigns  set  up  by 
the  Peace  of  Paris  entered  on  their  domains  at  once,  but 
the  definitive  settlement  of  the  map  of  Europe  was  post- 
poned to  a  Congress  to  be  held  at  Vienna  in  the  autumn. 
At  this  Congress  Talleyrand  would  have  to  meet  a 
formidable  effort  on  the  part  of  the  diplomatists  he  had 
just  discomfited,  and  skilfully  to  evade  the  inflated 
directions   that   the    courtiers    were    pressing    upon    the 


Xlbe  IRestoration  297 

King.  His  first  care  was  to  part  on  good  terms  with 
the  ministers  who  were  to  reunite  at  Vienna.  His 
personal  qualities  and  the  general  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  he  had  endeavoured  throughout  to  moderate 
the  bloody  march  of  Napoleon  favoured  his  effort,  but 
there  was  a  feeling  that  he  had  secured  too  much  for 
France,  and  a  plot  was  forming  to  exclude  him  by  some 
stratagem  from  the  important  discussions  at  Vienna.  It 
was,  moreover,  visible  to  all  that  the  Tsar  was  entirely 
surrendering  his  protection  of  France.  The  Prussian 
ministers  departed  with  bitter  determination  to  press 
their  claims  at  Vienna.  The  Tsar  went  off  to  England 
with  a  mortified  feeling  of  having  been  betrayed  into  a 
blunder  by  Talleyrand.  With  the  English  ministers 
Talleyrand  retained  good  relations,  though  he  had  (as 
usual)  little  respect  for  their  diplomatic  gifts.  "  What 
a  prodigious  amount  these  English  do  not  know  !  "  he 
said  afterwards,  a  propos  of  Castlereagh,  who  was  at  Paris 
with  his  brother  and  Lord  Cathcart.  Lord  Wellington 
came  to  Paris  as  ambassador  in  August,  and  became  a 
great  admirer  and  friend  of  the  French  Foreign 
Minister. 

At  the  house  of  Mme.  dc  Stael,  who  was  once 
more  shining  in  Paris,  the  Liberals  and  Constitutionalists 
dicussed  the  situation  with  concern.  The  whole  policy 
initiated  by  Napoleon  of  the  open  career  was  being 
discarded.  Degrees  of  "  attachment  "  to  the  exiled 
royal  family  were  made  the  sole  grounds  of  qualification 
for  office  amongst  the  crowd  of  incompetent  claimants. 


298  UaUe^ran& 

"  Regicides  "  were  marked  out  as  excluded  from 
all  honour  and  position.  When  Talleyrand  protested 
that  this  was  no  reason  for  rejecting  the  abler  and  more 
useful  of  the  Republicans,  the  King  pleaded  that  his 
courtiers  would  not  tolerate  them.  The  King's  chief 
confidant,  Blacas,  replied  to  all  suggestions  of  the 
dangers  they  were  incurring  with  a  lofty  declaration 
that  there  could  be  no  compromise  between  truth  and 
error,  between  the  monarchy  and  the  revolution. 
Talleyrand  by  this  time  knew  how  to  wait,  and  fell 
back  on  that  attitude.  His  only  action  in  the  Senate, 
to  which  he  belonged,  was  to  defend  the  proposals  of 
the  new  Minister  of  Finance,  his  friend,  Baron  Louis. 
^  On  the  other  hand  he  made  careful  preparation  for 

the  campaign  at  Vienna.  The  first  thing  to  do  was  to 
discover  the  aims  and  intentions  of  the  four  great 
Powers,  and  that  did  not  take  him  long.  The  treaties 
that  had  knit  together  the  coalition  against  Napoleon 
were  based  on  a  partition  of  the  territory  to  be  wrested 
from  him.  Napoleon's  ruthless  clipping  and  maiming 
of  Austria  and  Prussia  had  to  be  amended,  and  those 
Powers  demanded  a  heavy  discount.  Prussia  hoped  to 
get  Saxony,  Lower  Pomerania,  part  of  Poland,  and  the 
Rhine  districts  from  Mayence  to  Holland.  The  Tsar, 
whose  plans  were  sufficiently  revealed  to  Talleyrand 
during  the  few  weeks'  stay  at  the  Hotel  St.  Florcntin, 
desired  the  whole  of  Poland  (with  a  separate  consti- 
tution, but  under  the  Russian  Crown).  Thus  the  claims 
of  the  two  most  covetous  Powers  were  inconsistent  with 


XTbc  IRcstoration  299 

each  other  and  inacceptable  to  Austria,  who  was  especially 
unwilling  to  compensate  the  King  of  Saxony  in  Italy. 
England  had  already  secured  Hanover  and  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Netherlands,  and  was  not  further 
interested  in  Europe,  except  in  the  balancing  of  the 
Powers  against  each  other  ;  but  she  was  bound  by  the 
treaties  signed. 
/^  Talleyrand  fully  informed  himself  of  the  views  ot 
the  Powers,  and  formed  the  plan  he  afterwards  followed 
with  brilliant  success.  He  would  pose  as  the  dignified 
and  disinterested  representative  of  principle  in  this  game 
of  grab.  Partly  under  directions  from  the  King,  partly 
from  reasons  of  personal  regard  or  interest,  he  deter- 
mined to  frustrate  Prussia's  design  on  Saxony  and  to 
secure  the  restoration  of  Naples  to  Sicily.  Here  the 
opportunist  and  democratic  Talleyrand  would  plead  the 
principle  of  legitimacy.  As  England  was  the  least 
interested  of  the  Powers  he  would  win  her  first  to  his 
new  fervour  for  principles,  and  Austria,  with  her  interests 
mainly  southern  and  a  natural  concern  at  any  undue 
growth  of  Prussia  and  Russia,  might  be  drawn  with  them 
against  the  northern  Powers.  But  the  first  difficulty  was  to 
get  a  hearing.  By  one  of  the  earlier  treaties  (Chaumont) 
the  four  Powers  had  agreed  to  exclude  France  from  the 
deliberations  respecting  the  division  of  the  territory  won 
from  her.  Prussia  was  bent  on  having  this  condition 
carried  out,  and  Russia  and  Austria  had  no  reason  as  yet 
to  depart  from  it.  Talleyrand  prepared  the  way  for  his 
attack  on  this  formidable  obstacle  to  his  plans  by  a  close 


300  XTalleprant) 

and  assiduous  cultivation  of  England.  He  impressed 
effusively  on  the  English  Ambassador,  first  Sir  Charles 
Stuart  and  then  Lord  Wellington,  the  identity  of  the 
interests,  or  the  disinterestedness,  of  France  and  England, 
and  brought  about  a  feeling  of  cordiality.  Castlereagh 
himself  stopped  at  Paris  for  a  few  days  on  the  way  to 
Vienna,  and  was  much  interviewed. 

The  next  step  was  to  prepare  the  personnel  of  the 
French  party  and  the  indirect  machinery  of  diplomacy. 
He  chose  Dalberg,  partly  as  a  small  reward  to  his  friend 
and  partly  "to  let  out  secrets"  at  Vienna,  and  La 
Besnardiere  to  do  the  substantial  work  of  the  legation. 
Of  the  two  royalists  who  accompanied  him,  the  Count  de 
Noailles  (a  moderate)  and  M.  de  Latour  du  Pin,  he  says 
that  as  he  knew  he  would  have  to  take  some  of  the 
Court  party  to  watch  him,  he  preferred  to  have  them  of 
his  own  choosing.  The  latter  would  be  able  "  to  sign 
passports."  He  also  took  his  nephew's  charming  and 
tactful  wife,  the  Countess  Edmond  de  Perigord,  to 
entertain  for  him.  She  proved  "  very  useful  "  in  breaking 
down  the  social  boycott  with  which  hostile  ministers 
tried  to  support  their  resolve  to  exclude  Talleyrand 
from  the  settlement.  They  rented  the  Hotel  Kaunitz 
at  Vienna,  and  some  of  the  most  brilliant  fetes  and  most 
attractive  dinners  of  the  ensuing  winter  were  given  there. 

The  last  point  was  to  obtain  suitable  instructions 
from  the  King,  or,  rather,  give  sober  instructions  to 
Louis  XVIIL  He  therefore  drew  up  a  long  memo- 
randum and  programme,  and  got  it  signed  by  the  King 


^be  IRestoration  301 

without  difficulty.  The  French  representatives  at  the 
Congress  were  to  see  that  things  were  done  in  order  and 
on  principle.  The  Congress  would  have  to  settle  what 
States  should  be  represented  in  it,  what  its  objects  were, 
and  how  they  were  to  be  attained.  In  this  regard  the 
Treaty  of  May  30th  must  be  followed,  which  promises  a 
general  Congress.  The  idea  of  a  "Power"  must  be  taken 
in  a  wide  sense,  and  all  the  States,  large  or  small,  that 
took  part  in  the  war  must  be  admitted.  The  small 
German  States  should  be  formed  into  a  confederation, 
and  the  Congress  cannot  accomplish  this  without  their 
assistance.  In  the  distribution  of  territory  it  must  be 
remembered  that  modern  Europe  does  not  recognize 
that  sovereignty  may  be  obtained  by  mere  conquest,  and 
without  the  abdication  of  the  conquered  sovereign. 
"  Sovereignty  is,  in  the  general  society  of  Europe,  what 
private  ownership  is  in  a  particular  civil  society."  On 
this  principle  Saxony  and  the  other  German  States  must 
be  dealt  with.  The  Congress  has  to  dispose  of  the 
territory  renounced  by  France,  and  the  principles  of 
public  right  must  guide  the  distribution.  Balance  of 
power  does  not  mean  equality  of  force.  Small  States 
must  be  preserved,  and,  d  fortiori^  Saxony,  whose  king 
has  been  a  father  to  his  people,  a  beneficent  ruler. 
France  must  protect  the  little  States  against  the  larger  ; 
must  see  that  Prussia  does  not  get  Mayence  or  any 
territory  left  of  the  Moselle,  and  so  on.  Poland  is  to 
be  reconstructed,  on  condition  that  its  restoration  is 
entire  and  complete.    England  being  equally  conservative 


302  UalleKanC) 

with  France  as  to  the  state  of  Europe  must  be  cultivated 
as  an  ally.  In  the  end  the  memorandum  lays  down  four 
chief  points  on  which  the  representatives  of  France  must 
insist,  whatever  concession  they  make  apart  from  them. 
These  are  :  i.  That  Austria  shall  not  obtain  the  States 
of  the  King  of  Sardinia  for  one  of  its  princes  ;  2.  That 
Naples  shall  be  restored  to  Ferdinand  IV.  ;  3.  That  the 
whole  of  Poland  shall  not  pass  under  the  sovereignty  of 
Russia  ;  4.  That  Prussia  shall  not  get  Saxony — "  at 
least,  not  the  whole  of  it  " — nor  Mayence. 

Had  these  four  points  been  submitted  to  any  other 
ambassador  at  the  Congress  beforehand  he  would  have 
smiled.  We  have  now  to  see  how  Talleyrand  secured 
every  one  of  them  in  the  face  of  tremendous  opposition.* 

*  The  determination  to  have  Murat  deposed  and  Naples  restored  to 
Ferdinand  is  one  of  the  cardinal  points.  This  was  insisted  on  by  Louis 
XVIII  as  a  family  accommodation.  It  was  not  less  advisable  for  France 
generally.  Murat  was  too  near  Elba,  as  the  sequel  showed.  Yet  an  able 
French  critic  of  Talleyrand,  M.  OUivier  [Revue  des  Deux  Mondes, 
September  15th  1894),  ^^^  ^o  ^^^  strained,  perverted  and  ignored  the 
evidence  as  to  say  Talleyrand  first  corresponded  with  Murat,  and  got 
1,250,000  francs  from  him,  and  then  turned  against  him  and  obtained 
several  millions  from  Ferdinand.  The  blind  hostility  of  Sainte  Beuve  is 
not  yet  extinct  at  Paris.  OUivier's  whole  case  is  founded  on  Sainte 
Beuve's  "  remarkable  study"  (a  happy  phrase  ! ),  Pasquier's  "judicious  " 
memoirs  and  the  wild  charges  of  Savary,  Chateaubriand  and  Napoleon. 


CHAPTER    XV 


A    DIPLOMATIC    ROMANCE 


Talleyrand  and  his  party  arrived  at  Vienna  on 
September  23rd.  He  immediately  saw  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  other  great  Powers,  found  that  his 
anticipation  of  their  resolve  to  restrict  his  action  was 
correct,  and  opened  his  campaign.  It  was  not  a  difficult 
task  to  induce  the  ministers  of  the  secondary  Powers  to 
make  common  cause  with  the  ablest  diplomatist  at  the 
Congress.  The  Spanish  Minister,  Labrador,  was  urged 
to  press  the  disputable  claim  of  his  country  to  be 
considered  a  first-class  Power,  and  support  Talleyrand 
in  his  manoeuvres.  The  smaller  States  were  fully  dis- 
posed to  have  their  feeble  voices  swelled  into  a 
respectable  protest  by  fitting  them  into  Talleyrand's 
scheme.  The  representatives  of  Prussia  (Prince 
Hardenberg  and  Baron  Humboldt),  of  Russia  (Nessel- 
rode,  Stakelberg  and  Rassoumoffsky),  of  Austria 
(Metternich),  and  of  England  (Castlereagh  and  Stewart), 
were  in  constant  correspondence.  Talleyrand  waited 
and  watched.  At  last  he  inquired  of  Metternich  why 
there  was  no  indication  of  the  opening  of  the  Congress, 
which  had  been  fixed  for  October  ist.  After  some 
discussion  between    the   four   Powers,   Metternich    and 

303 


304  'C;aUe^ran^ 

Nesselrode  obtained  that  Talleyrand  and  the  Spanish 
Minister  should  be  invited  to  assist  at  a  preliminary- 
conference  on  September  30thj  and  the  diplomatic 
struggle  begins. 

Talleyrand  at  once  sees  Labrador  and  arranges  the 
reply  to  Metternich's  note.  He  himself  replies  that  he 
will  be  pleased  to  meet  the  other  Powers,  in  which 
he  carefully  includes  Spain  ;  Labrador,  in  accepting, 
puts  France  at  the  head  of  the  Powers  he  is  prepared 
to  discuss  with.  When  Talleyrand  reached  the  Foreign 
Chancellery  he  finds  all  the  chief  ministers  seated  at  a 
long  table,  and  he  drops  into  a  vacant  chair  between 
Castlereagh,  who  presided,  and  Metternich.  He  imme- 
diately throws  in  the  apple  of  discord  by  asking  why  he 
alone  of  the  French  legation  is  invited.  When  he  is 
told  that  only  the  chiefs  of  the  various  legations  are 
summoned,  he  asks  why  Baron  von  Humboldt  represents 
Prussia  as  well  as  Prince  Hardenberg.  They  point  out 
delicately  that  Hardenberg  is  rather  deaf,  and  he 
smilingly  refers  to  his  own  lameness.  "  We  all  have 
our  infirmities,  and  have  the  same  right  to  profit  by 
them."  But  this  is  only  a  trivial  point  raised  in  order 
to  induce  nervousness  ;  as  is  also  his  support  of  the 
Portuguese  Minister's  claim  (inspired  by  himself)  to 
be  admitted.  Castlereagh  opens  the  proceedings,  and 
says  they  have  first  to  inform  Talleyrand  and  Labrador 
what  has  been  done.  The  protocol  (minutes)  of  the 
previous  conferences  is  handed  to  Talleyrand.  He 
raised  his  eyebrows  in  artistic  astonishment  when  he  finds 


H  H)ipIomatic  IRomance  305 

that  it  contains  the  word  "Allies"  in  every  paragraph. 
Who  are  these  "  Allies  ? "  Are  we  "  still  at  Chaumont  ?  " 
He  had  supposed  that  the  war  was  over.  They  hastily — 
much  too  hastily — assure  him  that  it  is  a  mere  form 
or  phrase,  and  he  continues  to  read  about  treaties 
and  agreements  that  had  been  concealed  or  were 
supposed  to  be  concealed  from  him.  "  I  don't 
understand  it,"  he  says,  returning  the  papers.  "  I  don't 
know  of  anything  being  done  on  these  dates."  The 
only  date  he  knows  anything  of  is  October  ist,  when 
the  Congress  is  to  begin.  The  other  ministers,  thrown 
off  their  guard  by  his  unforeseen  tactics,  abandon  their 
protocol  as  unimportant,  and  it  is  not  seen  again.  They 
then  produce  a  document  regulating  the  procedure  of 
the  Congress,  and  invite  him  and  Labrador  to  sign  it. 
He  reads  it,  hesitates,  and  says  it  needs  leisurely 
consideration.  It  may  be  that  only  the  Congress  itself 
can  give  the  representatives  of  the  four  Powers  the 
faculties  they  have  assumed.  Castlereagh  and  himself, 
he  points  out,  are  responsible  to  their  nations,  and  must 
proceed  cautiously.  Castlereagh  rather  assents,  and  the 
Prussians  fume.  Something  is  said  of  "  the  King  of 
Naples."  "  Who  is  he  .''"  asks  Talleyrand.  Humboldt 
ventures  to  say  that  the  Powers  have  guaranteed  Murat 
his  territory.  "  But  they  could  not,  and,  therefore,  they 
did  not,"  insists  Talleyrand. 

The  conference  broke  up  amid  a  general  air  of 
embarrassment.  I  have  taken  the  account  of  it  from 
Talleyrand's    memoirs    and    his     report    to    the    King. 

20 


3o6  TTalle^ranb 

But  the  Secretary  of  the  Congress,  Gentz,  who  soon 
formed  a  profound  admiration  of  Talleyrand,  describes 
it  as  a  scene  he  could  never  forget,  and  says  that  all  the 
intrigues  of  the  ministers  were  defeated.  Like  Napoleon, 
Talleyrand  believed  in  setting  ajar  the  nerves  of  his 
diplomatic  opponents,  but  he  had  also  made  a  substantial 
attack  on  the  plot  to  exclude  France.  The  minutes  of 
the  previous  meetings  were  destroyed,  and  no  more 
meetings  were  held  to  which  the  French  Minister  was 
not  invited. 

The  next  morning  he  followed  up  his  advantage 
by  submitting  a  note  on  the  procedure  of  the  Congress. 
He  claimed,  plausibly  enough,  that  the  representatives 
of  the  eight  Powers  who  had  signed  the  Treaty  of  Paris 
(where  the  Congress  was  decided  on)  should  appoint  a 
commission  to  prepare  its  programme.  This  would  let 
in  Portugal  and  Sweden,  as  well  as  France  and  Spain. 
Baron  Humboldt  described  it  as  "  a  torch  flung  amongst 
us."  Metternich  and  Castlereagh  beg  him  to  withdraw 
his  note.  Talleyrand  explains  that  this  is  impossible  as 
it  has  somehow  leaked  out,  and  the  Spanish  Minister 
has  unfortunately  (but  at  Talleyrand's  secret  suggestion) 
sent  a  copy  of  it  to  his  Court.  Metternich  threatens 
that  the  four  Powers  will  act  by  themselves.  Talleyrand 
amiably  replies  that  in  that  event  he  will  not  feel  called 
upon  to  attend  the  Congress.  Nesselrode  bluntly  pro- 
tests that  the  Tsar  must  leave  Austria  by  the  29th,  and 
Talleyrand  suavely  assures  him  he  "  is  very  sorry,  as  in 
that  case   the  Tsar  is  not  likely  to  see  the  end  of  the 


J- rem  an  e'tgta^i/ig.  after  the pkture  liy  Sir  Thoiiias  Lawreiu 
PRINCE   METTERNICH. 


[p.  306. 


H  Diplomatic  IRoinancc  307 

Congress."  Castlereagh  endeavours  to  talk  over  Talley- 
rand with  British  common  sense.  The  objects  of  France 
can  be  secured,  he  is  explaining,  when  Talleyrand 
interrupts  him  with  an  expression  of  lofty  amazement, 
and  says  France  is  there  to  represent  principles,  not  to 
secure  objects.  They  have  to  answer  to  Europe,  which 
has  suffered  so  much  from  the  neglect  of  good  maxims 
of  conduct.  Von  Gagern,  representing  Bavaria,",  said  : 
"  Is  it  not  extraordinary  that,  when  the  French  speak  of 
principles  for  the  first  time  since  the  world  began  no 
one  will  listen  to  them  ?  "  Gentz  admitted  to  Talleyrand 
at  dinner  that  night  that  the  other  Powers  knew  he  was 
right,  but  did  not  like  to  retreat.  He  wished  Talleyrand 
had  arrived  earlier. 

The  Tsar  had  already  granted  him  the  interview 
he  had  asked  on  arriving  at  Vienna.  In  answer  to 
Alexander's  inquiry  as  to  the  state  of  France  he  gave  a 
very  cheerful  (and  totally  untrue)  account.  He  had 
just  received  pitiable  reports  from  Fouche  and 
D'Hauterive.  When  the  Tsar  spoke  of  needs  or 
interests  deciding  what  was  to  be  done  in  Europe, 
Talleyrand  reminded  him  that  right  came  before 
interest.  "  The  interests  of  Europe  constitute  right," 
said  the  Tsar.  Talleyrand  raised  his  head  and  dropped 
his  arms,  ejaculating  :  "  Poor  Europe  !  "  When  he 
remonstrated  with  Alexander  for  using  the  word 
"Allies,"  the  Emperor  explained  it  away  as  being  due 
to  force  of  habit.  A  few  days  afterwards  he  saw 
Metternich,  and   humorously  alluded   to  "  the  Allies." 


3o8  ^allepran& 

"There  are  none  now,"  said  Metternich.  When 
Metternich  tried  to  smile  at  his  affectation  of  disinter- 
estedness, Talleyrand  offered  to  sign  a  note  to  the 
effect  that  France  wanted  nothing  and  would  not  accept 
anything  from  the  Congress.  Metternich  mentioned 
Naples,  and  Talleyrand  at  once  said  it  was  a  question 
of  principle. 

The  Congress  was  now  a  week  overdue,  and  the 
irritated  ministers  saw  all  their  preparations  for  it 
thwarted.  The  Prussian  party  had  been  strengthened 
by  their  minister  from  London,  one  of  the  "  eagles 
of  their  diplomacy,"  but  they  could  make  no  headway. 
On  October  8th  there  was  another  conference.  Talley- 
rand delivered  to  Castlereagh  another  note  on  the 
Congress,  and  wanted  it  stated  that  it  would  be  held 
"  in  conformity  with  the  principles  of  public  right." 
Hardenberg  jumped  up,  and,  with  his  fists  clenched  on 
the  table,  snapped  out  that  "that  went  without  saying." 
"  It  will  be  all  the  easier  to  insert  it,"  replied  Talleyrand. 
Baron  Humboldt  then  took  up  the  quarrel,  and  wanted 
to  know  "what  they  had  to  do  with  public  right."  "It 
is  in  virtue  of  public  right  that  you  are  here,"  retorted 
Talleyrand  quietly.  The  phrase  did  eventually  appear 
in  the  Declaration.  In  the  middle  of  the  Conference 
Castlereagh  drew  Talleyrand  aside,  and  asked  him  if  he 
would  be  "  easier  "  if  they  gave  him  his  point.  "  What 
will  you  do  about  Naples  if  I  promise  .^"  immediately 
asked  the  moralist.     Castlereagh  promised  his  assistance. 

Thus  the  opening  stages  of  the  diplomatic  campaign 


H  Dtplomatlc  IRomance  309 

went  entirely  in  Talleyrand's  favour.  He  had  advised 
the  King  to  publish  his  instructions  in  the  Parisian  press, 
and  all  Vienna  now  read  the  edifying  principles  on  which 
the  French  legation  proceeded.  Russia  and  Prussia 
were  being  gradually  forced  into  a  minority,  and  their 
covetous  designs  on  Poland  and  Saxony  were  being 
cleverly  represented  as  the  real  obstacles  to  progress. 
Their  mortification  was  profound.  Neither  social 
coldness  nor  the  refusal  of  information  disturbed 
Talleyrand's  equanimity.  The  one  design  was  defeated 
by  the  attractiveness  of  his  establishment,  the  other  was  a 
stratagem  he  had  too  often  encountered.  Gagern  and 
Castlereagh  alone  used  to  visit  the  Hotel  Kaunitz  in  the 
first  week  or  two,  but  the  amiable  countess  soon  saw  her 
dinners  well  attended.  Early  in  December  the  Austrian 
papers  described  her  as  the  first  lady  in  the  quadrille  at  a 
ball  of  the  utmost  brilliance  and  importance.  And 
Talleyrand's  tongue  counted  for  something  in  the 
cosmopolitan  society  at  Vienna.  "  His  biting  sarcasm 
ranged  all  the  thinkers  and  all  the  laughers  on  his  side," 
said  Metternich.  His  quips  on  the  quaint  manners  of 
the  Tsar,  the  heavy  sullenness  of  the  Prussians,  the 
political  innocence  of  the  English,  and  the  "  niaiseries  " 
of  Metternich,  circulated  at  every  ball  and  dinner. 

The  opening  of  November  saw  little  advance  in  the 
negotiations.  Talleyrand  fought  resolutely  for  the 
preservation  of  Saxony,  against  the  cession  of  Poland  to 
Russia,  and  for  the  restoration  of  Naples  to  the  Bour- 
bons.    He  admitted  that  Prussia  should  be  indemnified, 


3IO  Uallc^ran^ 

but  "  the  sacred  principle  of  legitimacy  "  forbade  the 
sacrifice  of  Saxony  to  them.  When  the  Prussians 
retorted  that  they  would  be  satisfied  in  conscience  if  the 
Powers  assigned  it  to  them,  he  replied  that  the  Powers 
could  not  give  what  did  not  belong  to  them.  When 
Russia  tried  to  seize  his  weapon  of  "  legitimacy  "  for 
the  defence  of  their  design  to  re-establish  Poland  (under 
the  Russian  crown),  he  blandly  assented,  if  they  would 
re-erect  the  whole  of  Poland  and  make  it  completely 
independent.  And  whenever  a  minister  approached  him 
with  a  quiet  suggestion  of  "  making  a  bargain,"  he  drew 
himself  up  with  haughty  moral  dignity.  He  was 
determined  to  get  both  Saxony  and  Naples.  Through- 
out October  he  was  writing  that  the  English  ruled  the 
Congress,  and  they  had  "  no  principles."  They  were 
ready  to  give  Saxony  to  Prussia — Castlereagh  complain- 
ing bitterly  of  the  "treachery"  of  its  king— and 
generally  to  strengthen  Prussia  and  Austria  against 
France  ;  but  they  joined  Talleyrand  and  Austria  in 
regard  to  Poland,  and  were  ready  to  be  accommodating 
as  regarded  Naples. 

On  November  5th  Metternich  invited  Talleyrand 
to  meet  himself  and  Castlereagh.  They  wanted  his 
confidence  and  assistance  to  make  some  progress.  The 
French  Minister  threw  up  his  arms.  How  could  he 
help  them  when  he  knew  nothing  that  they  did  not 
know,  whereas  they  were  perpetually  withholding  their 
deliberations  from  him  }  Let  them  open  the  Congress. 
He  was  told  that  the  Prussians — Castlereagh  told  him 


a  Diplomatic  IRomance  3" 

privately  how  they  dreaded  him — would  not  hear  of  it 
until  the  Powers  were  agreed.  ^On  the  same  day  the 
King  of  Prussia  had  a  private  interview  with  the  Tsar, 
and  they  decided  to  support  each  other.  Prussia  was  to 
have  Saxony,  and  Russia  to  set  up  a  kingdom  of  Poland. 
Talleyrand  met  the  agreement  by  impressing  its  inaccept- 
able  features  on  Austria  and  England,  and  drawing  closer 
to  them.  By  the  insertion  of  articles  in  the  Parisian 
papers  and  the  publication  of  pamphlets  he  was  bringing 
public  opinion  to  his  view  as  regarded  Saxony.  The 
Austrian  generals  were  openly  in  favour  of  it,  and  there 
was  a  strong  feeling  for  it  in  England.  By  the  beginning 
of  December  Metternich  sent  Talleyrand  a  copy  of  a 
letter  in  which  he  protested  to  Prussia  against  the 
annexation  of  Saxony,  and  "rejoiced  to  find  himself  in 
line  with  the  French  Cabinet  on  an  object  so  worthy  of 
defence."  The  Tsar  was  losing  ground  daily.  In  spite 
of  his  excessive  amiability — he  danced  or  took  tea  with 
every  lady  in  Vienna — his  ambition  was  alarming  people. 
The  Prussian  ambassadors  were  seen  nowhere.  They 
were  shedding  fruitless  perspiration  in  their  cabinets. 
By  the  end  of  November  Talleyrand  reported  to  Louis 
that  France  was  now  not  only  not  excluded  from  the 
settlement  of  questions  that  interested  her,  but  was 
sharing  in  the  redistribution  of  Italy,  Switzerland,  and 
Germany.  Austria  and  England  now  needed  her.  The 
perspicacious  Louis  solemnly  accepted  Talleyrand's 
assurance  that  it  was  his  (the  King's)  lofty  enunciation 
of    principles    which    had    changed    the    atmosphere    of 


312  Xi;alle^ran& 

Vienna.      His    brief    letters    are    full    of    unconscious 
humour. 

By  the  middle  of  December  Talleyrand  heard  that 
Austria,  Russia,  and  Prussia  had  come  to  an  agreement 
about  Poland.  The  Tsar  relinquished  his  larger 
pretensions,  granted  parts  of  Poland  to  Prussia  and 
Austria,  and  was  then  allowed  to  give  the  remainder  a 
constitution.  Prussia  appealed  to  Austria  to  help  her  to 
get  her  much  laboured  compensation,  and  Metternich 
offered  her  part  of  Poland  and  only  a  fifth  part  of 
Saxony.  This  note  was  delivered  to  Talleyrand,  and  at 
once  inspired  him  with  a  fresh  flow  of  that  "  noble 
phraseology  "  which  he  had  promised  Mme.  de  Stael  to 
employ  at  Vienna.  He  ceased  to  speak  of  Poland,  and 
concentrated  on  Saxony.  The  King  of  Saxony  must 
be  invited  to  say  what  part  of  his  territory  he  would 
surrender  (it  was  now  clear  the  whole  could  not  be 
preserved).  Civilised  nations  know  no  such  process  as 
confiscation.  Castlereagh  was  now  directed  to  come  to 
an  understanding  with  Talleyrand.  The  French  Minister 
responded  with  a  proposal  that  England,  France,  and 
Austria  should  sign  a  convention  to  protect  Saxony,  and 
in  the  early  days  of  January  a  secret  treaty  between  the 
three  was  signed.  Military  preparations  were  quietly 
made,  and  it  transpired  in  Vienna  that  they  had  urged 
the  Turks  to  make  a  diversion  against  Russia  in  case  of 
war.     A  number  of  the  secondary  Powers  joined  them. 

For  a  time  the  situation  seemed  dangerous,  and  the 
exasperation  of  Prussia  was  great.     But   the  defensive 


H  Dtplomatlc  IRomancc  313 

character  of  the  new  alliance  was  discreetly  emphasised, 
fresh  concessions  of  territory  were  made  to  Prussia, 
and  the  Tsar  urged  a  peaceful  and  speedy  settlement. 
Talleyrand  wrote  in  glowing  language  to  France,  and  he 
was  assured  from  the  capital  that  his  prestige  had  risen 
considerably.  He  made  a  last  adroit  use  of  his  indirect 
diplomatic  machinery  before  the  close  of  the  Congress. 
The  anniversary  of  the  execution  of  Louis  XVI  occurred 
on  January  21st,  and  arrangements  were  made  for  an 
impressive  ceremony  in  the  cathedral  at  Vienna,  at  which 
few  of  the  rulers  and  statesmen  could  decline  the 
invitation  to  assist.  Every  detail  of  it  was  directed 
to  further  Talleyrand's  aims.  The  sermon  delivered 
had  been  prepared  by  the  Count  de  Noailles — Louis 
said  that  nothing  so  fine  had  been  heard  at  Paris — 
and  Talleyrand  induced  Gentz  to  write  a  special  account 
of  the  ceremony  in  the  Vienna  Beohachler.  A  huge 
crowd  of  princes  and  politicians  dined  that  night  at  the 
Hotel  Kaunitz.  Vienna  was  subtly  impregnated  with 
sympathy. 

The  last  stages  of  the  Congress  passed  more  swiftly 
and  smoothly.  Prussia  had  to  withdraw  her  protest 
against  the  admission  of  Talleyrand  to  the  commission 
on  territorial  redistribution,  so  that  the  great  aim  of  his 
policy  as  regarded  procedure  was  fully  attained.  That 
he  should  secure  the  literal  acceptance  of  his  programme 
in  the  redistribution  itself  was  not  to  be  expected,  but 
the  final  arrangement  was  widely  different  from  what  the 
other  Powers  had  intended.     The  kingdom  of  Saxony 


was  preserved,  though  greatly  reduced.  On  the  other 
hand  Prussia  obtained  the  Rhine  districts,  which  Talley- 
rand had  tried  to  prevent  her  from  getting  on  the  ground 
that  she  was  "  a  quarrelsome  neighbour."  The  other 
Powers  were  not  unwilling  to  see  her  mount  guard 
against  France  on  the  Rhine.  The  smaller  German 
kingdoms  were  left  in  existence.  Some  of  them  had 
bespoken  Talleyrand's  interest.  Austria  obtained  Venice 
in  spite  of  him,  but  he  eventually  got  his  way  as  regarded 
Naples.  Wellington  (who  replaced  Castlereagh  in 
February)  supported  the  French  demand  for  the  expul- 
sion of  Murat,  Russia  was  driven  to  the  same  conclusion 
in  the  design  of  weakening  Austria,  and  Murat  finally 
played  into  their  hands  by  declaring  for  Napoleon.  Thus 
the  two  chief  details  of  his  programme,  the  maintenance 
of  a  kingdom  of  Saxony  and  the  restoration  of  Naples  to 
the  Bourbons,  were  secured.  His  dignified  refusal  to 
compromise  had  the  full  empirical  justification  which  he 
had  expected.  In  other  matters  he  was  less  rigid  in  his 
cult  of  "  principle."  He  raised  no  protest  to  Bernadotte 
retaining  Sweden,  and  maintained  the  act  of  mediation  in 
Switzerland. 

The  Congress  of  Vienna  is  the  greatest  of  Talley- 
rand's diplomatic  achievements,  and  I  have  endeavoured 
to  give  an  outline  of  his  methods  of  action  there.  The 
results  are  familiar  in  general  history.  Apart  from  the 
distinguished  talent  that  he  exhibited,  and  that  is  easily 
appreciated,  it  only  remains  to  say  a  word  about  his 
motives.      It  is  needless  to  point  out  that  his  inexorable 


B  H)iplomatic  IRomance  315 

insistence  on  principle  was  a  carefully  calculated  expe- 
dient. It  would  be  misleading  to  recall  here  his  saying 
that  "  the  best  principle  is  to  have  none  at  all."  He 
had  principles  ;  but  they  were  ultimate  principles. 
Peace,  justice,  France  and  humanity  were  ideals  at  which 
he  never  scoffed.  There  his  idealism  ended.  It  was 
one  of  the  chief  grounds  of  the  exasperation  of  his 
opponents  that  they  knew  how  little  he  really  cared 
about  principles  of  "legitimacy"  and  the  like.  His 
action  was  inspired  and  controlled  by  a  variety  of 
motives — the  interest  of  France,  the  cause  of  European 
peace,  the  family  interests  of  Louis  XVIII,  some  sense 
of  chivalry  for  the  smaller  States,  the  picturesqueness 
and  humour  of  posing  as  the  champion  of  virtue 
amongst  the  partitioning  Powers,  and  the  expectation 
of  gratitude  from  such  men  as  the  King  of  Saxony. 
He  is  said  to  have  received  two,  and  even  three,  million 
francs  from  Saxony.  As  usual,  the  statement  is  quite 
unauthoritative,  and  the  rumours  are  conflicting.  The 
Congress  of  Vienna  probably  brought  him  a  very  large 
sum.  I  have  pointed  out  before  that  there  was  no 
pretence  of  stealth  about  his  receiving  money,  though 
the  sums  mentioned  by  various  writers  seem  generally 
to  be  guesses.  Not  a  single  instance  is  alleged  in  which 
he  was  "  bought."  Presents  of  money  changed  hands 
very  freely  at  Vienna.  As  it  had  been  Talleyrand's 
deliberate  policy  to  stand  between  the  larger  Powers 
and  the  smaller — to  prevent,  as  far  as  possible,  the 
growth  of  the  former  by  the  absorption  of  the  latter — 


3i6  Ualle^ranD 

he  would  be  in  the  end  an  exceptional  recipient  of 
gratitude.*  He  would  have  smiled  at  the  notion  that 
this  gratitude  should  only  have  been  embodied  in 
diamonds  or  china,  especially  if  it  is  true  that  at  that 
very  moment  his  splendid  library  was  being  dispatched 
to  Sotheby's. 

Before  the  Tsar  left  Vienna  Talleyrand  was  com- 
pelled   to    impair    still    more    their    earlier    friendship. 
Alexander  had  shown  much  coolness  in  regard  to  him  in 
September    and    October.      To   disappointment    in    the 
development    in    France    was    added    the   consciousness 
that  Talleyrand   was    strenuously    opposing    his    Polish 
plans.     As   time  wore   on,  and   Talleyrand's    campaign 
succeeded,     there     was    a     change.       By    the    end    of 
November  Alexander   was   looking  out  everywhere  for 
Talleyrand,  who   avoided   him.      The  settlement  of  the 
Polish    question    left    them    tolerably    friendly.       Then 
came  an  incident  which  Talleyrand  must  have  faced  with 
great  reluctance.     He  had  earlier  favoured  the  idea  of 
a  marriage  between  the  Archduchess  Anna  and  the  Due 
de  Berry.     He  now  felt  that  a  Franco-Russian  alliance 
was   undesirable,   and   wrote   to   dissuade   Louis  XVIII 
from   entertaining  the   project.      The   Tsar   approached 
him   directly  on   the  matter   at   Vienna,  and  he  had  to 
suggest    difficulties    and    have    recourse    to    the    very 

*  It  is  also  clear  that  presents  more  frequently  took  the  form  of  cash 
then  than  they  do  now.  Ambassadors  of  historic  and  wealthy  families 
could  afford  the  luxury  of  disdaining  money.  Talleyrand  had  not  a  franc 
of  hereditary  wealth  ;  and  his  diplomatic  pre-eminence  entailed  enormous 
expenditure.  To-day  no  man  of  character  or  culture  could  be  offered 
money.     Talleyrand  lived  in  an  age  of  transition,  and  was  a  cynic. 


H  Diplomatic  IRomancc  3^7 

transparent  device  of  postponing  the  subject.  The  Tsar 
had  not  forgotten  how  Talleyrand  and  he  had  secretly 
agreed  at  Erfurt  to  deceive  Napoleon  in  regard  to  the 
same  archduchess.  It  considerably  widened  the  breach 
between  them. 

Had  Talleyrand  foreseen  the  events  of  the  coming 
March  he  might  have  used  more  diplomacy.  In  the 
evening  of  March  6th  the  various  ministers  were 
urgently  summoned  by  Metternich.  Talleyrand  was 
the  first  to  arrive  and  to  hear  that  Napoleon  had  sailed 
from  Elba.  There  was  excitement  enough,  but  it  is  a 
great  exaggeration  to  speak  of  dismay.  The  news  had 
the  good  effect  of  quickening  the  pace  at  Vienna,  and 
there  was  not  a  moment's  hesitation  on  the  part  of  the 
Powers  as  to  the  steps  to  be  taken.  Napoleon  was  a 
common  enemy,  a  common  outlaw.  Talleyrand  did  not 
believe  at  first  that  he  would  land  in  France,  but  he 
could  hardly  have  been  unprepared  for  the  account  ot 
his  victorious  advance  on  Paris.  For  weeks  he  had 
been  receiving  letters  on  the  mutinous  condition  of  the 
army,  the  criminal  expenditure  on  gold-laced  household 
troops,  the  incessant  attacks  on  the  holders  of  nationalised 
property,  and  the  other  abuses  and  follies  of  the  returned 
party.  Within  a  fortnight  Napoleon  was  at  Paris,  and 
the  pompous  and  misguided  Louis  was  flying  towards 
Belgium.  The  Powers  became  "allies"  once  more, 
and  set  their  forces  in  motion  to  arrest  "  the  bandit." 

Lytton,  who  has  done  so  much  to  clear  the  character 
of  Talleyrand  from  calumny,  is  here  betrayed  into  an 


3i8  Ualle\?rant) 

unfortunate  error.  He  says  that  Talleyrand  recollected 
that  the  first  duty  of  a  diplomatist  after  a  congress  is  to 
see  to  his  liver,  and  departed  for  Carlsbad.  Sainte 
Beuveand  others  have  eagerly  reproduced  this  picture  of 
the  wily  politician  retiring  into  inactivity  on  Napoleon's 
reappearance,  and  waiting  to  see  which  side  would  win 
in  the  struggle.  The  picture  is  totally  false.  The 
Congress  was  not  completed — its  act  was  not  signed — 
until  June  9th.  Talleyrand  left  Vienna  the  very  next  day 
for  Belgium,  and  was  in  Brussels  on  June  21st.  Further, 
we  have  the  correspondence  he  wrote  to  Louis  from 
Vienna,  and  from  this  it  is  clear,  not  only  that  he 
remained  at  Vienna,  but  that  he  rendered  most  important 
and  loyal  service  to  Louis  throughout  the  Hundred 
Days.  There  is  never  more  than  an  interval  of  a  few 
days  between  his  letters,  and  they  are  all  dated  from 
Vienna.  It  is  true  that  Von  Gagern  speaks  of  him  as 
asking  an  asylum  in  Wiesbaden,  but  there  is  no  room 
whatever  to  admit  an  absence  from  duty  at  any  time  of 
more  than  a  day  or  two.  Finally,  we  know  that  he 
formally  rejected  the  advances  made  by  Napoleon. 

In  the  first  few  days  he  clearly  felt  no  serious 
concern  about  the  movements  of  Napoleon.  The  event 
might  be  turned  to  good  account,  he  observed.  He 
went  at  once  with  Metternich  and  Wellington  to  see 
the  King  of  Saxony  at  Pressburg  on  behalf  of  the 
Congress.  It  was  left  to  Talleyrand  chiefly  to  persuade 
the  king  that  he  must  submit,  and  the  mission  was 
quickly  discharged.     He  found  an  old  friend  of  his,  the 


H  S)iplomatic  IRomance  319 

Countess  de  Brionne,  dying  at  Pressburg,  and  interrupts 
his  account  of  the  Congress  to  describe  his  touching 
farewell.  He  could  weep  like  a  woman  on  such 
occasions.  He  was  back  in  Vienna  on  March  13th,  and 
signed  on  behalf  of  France  the  manifesto  of  the  Powers 
against  Napoleon.  It  is  impossible  that  he  should  have 
had  any  serious  doubt  about  the  final  issue  of  Napoleon's 
raid.  He  heard  Alexander  offer  the  whole  resources  of 
his  country,  and  saw  the  absolute  unanimity  and  reso- 
lution of  Europe.  The  Treaty  of  Chaumont  was 
revived,  and  every  State  in  Europe  was  invited  to  join 
the  grand  coalition.  Talleyrand  secured  that  the  French 
king  should  now  be  included  in  the  allied  forces  against 
Napoleon. 

Unfortunately,  four  days  afterwards  came  the  news 
that  the  King  had  crossed  the  frontier  with  a  slender 
regiment  of  followers.  Talleyrand  had  urged  that  he 
should  remain  in  one  of  the  fortresses  in  the  north  of 
France.  He  had  written  to  the  King  on  April  23rd  to 
tell  him  of  the  firm  attitude  of  the  Powers  against 
Napoleon,  but  had  added,  "  with  infinite  regret,"  that 
they  were  less  definite  in  their  attitude  towards  Louis. 
This  was  really  not  the  case  at  that  time,  but  it  seemed 
a  good  opportunity  to  bring  the  King  to  reason.  He 
followed  up  his  point  with  a  strong  plea  for  reform  and 
Liberalism,  and  said  he  would  join  the  King  as  soon  as 
the  interests  of  France  permitted  him  to  leave  Vienna. 
A  few  days  later  he  wrote  that  there  had  been  an 
intrigue    to   prevent   the   signature   of  the    Act  of  the 


320  "Jralle^ranb 

Congress,  and  he  must  remain  to  defeat  it.  Then  came 
the  very  unwelcome  news  that  Louis  had  fled  from  the 
country.  Talleyrand  wrote  to  express  his  regret,  and 
hoped  that  the  Court  had  brought  away  from  Paris  all  his 
letters  from  Vienna.  Amongst  them  was  a  copy  of  the 
secret  treaty  with  Austria  and  England  against  Russia 
and  Prussia.  Napoleon  would  not  fail  to  make  use  of 
this.  Louis's  courtiers  had  brought  away  the  crown 
jewels  and  left  the  documents  behind. 

The  Act  of  the  Congress  was  not  signed  until  June 
9th,  and  Talleyrand  resisted  all  entreaties  to  come  to 
Belgium  until  this  was  done.  Chateaubriand  wrote  him 
that  it  was  "absolutely  necessary"  for  him  to  come. 
Talleyrand's  decision  to  remain  at  or  near  Vienna  until 
the  fruits  of  his  diplomacy  were  fully  secured  is  not 
open  to  criticism  or  misinterpretation.  There  was  a  real 
danger  in  the  postponement  and  re-opening  of  the 
Congress.  It  is  quite  true  that  he  was  approached  by 
an  emissary  of  Napoleon  during  April.  Montrond,  an 
old  friend  of  Talleyrand's,  came  to  Vienna  to  ascertain 
the  attitude  of  the  Powers  and  make  overtures  to 
Talleyrand.  Napoleon,  who  had  at  first  proscribed  him, 
was  now  anxious  to  secure  him.  Michaud  declares, 
with  the  customary  absolute  lack  of  authority,  that 
Talleyrand  offered  to  negotiate  for  him  the  return  of 
the  Empress  and  her  son.  Napoleon  himself  admits 
that  one  of  the  objects  of  Montrond  was  to  "  win 
Talleyrand,"  and  claims  that  "all  his  objects  were 
achieved."     The   claim    is  frivolous.     We   have  not  a 


H  Biploinatic  IRoinance  321 

very  distinct  picture  of  Talleyrand's  occupation  during 
April  and  May,  but  there  is  no  ground  whatever  for 
doubting  the  truth  of  his  statement  that  he  refused  to 
treat  with  Montrond.  At  the  most  we  may  merely 
smile  at  his  explanation  that  it  would  have  "  prostituted 
his  politics."  He  saw  that  Europe  was  determined  to 
remove  Napoleon.  No  doubt  he  had  a  momentary 
anxiety  when  he  learned  that  Napoleon  had  given  the 
Russians  a  copy  of  his  secret  treaty  of  January  3rd, 
but  he  laughed  it  off  to  Nesselrode,  and  soon  learned 
that  Alexander  was  unmoved  by  it.  Once  that  danger 
was  over,  the  alliance  against  Napoleon  was  irresistible. 

On  the  other  hand  there  was  an  increasing  dis- 
inclination among  the  Allies  to  pledge  themselves  to 
support  Louis,  and  other  alternatives  were  freely  dis- 
cussed. We  may  very  well  admit  that  Talleyrand  kept 
an  open  mind  on  these,  and  would  much  rather  be  in 
Austria  than  Belgium.  But  he  acted  loyally  on  behalf 
of  the  King.  It  was  he  who  induced  the  reluctant 
Allies  to  send  representatives  to  the  Court  at  Ghent. 
The  most  serious  alternative  to  Louis  was  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  who  was  at  London,  and  in  regard  to  whom 
Talleyrand  seems  to  have  been  entirely  passive.  It  is 
not  unlikely  that,  apart  from  his  real  concern  to  see  the 
Act  of  the  Congress  signed,  he  wanted  to  see  the  ultra 
faction  entirely  discredited  at  Ghent,  and  a  more  definite 
leaning  to  his  own  liberal  policy  before  proceeding 
there.  He  knew  how  things  were  going  on  at  Ghent. 
The  distracted  King  was  wavering  between  the  courtiers, 

21 


322  XTalle^anb 

who  threw  the  whole  blame  of  the  revolution  on  the 
Radicals,  and  the  Liberal  statesmen  who  returned  it  to  the 
shoulders  of  the  returned  emigrants.  The  Allies  were 
throwing  their  weight  in  the  latter  side  of  the  scale,  and 
were  discussing  the  advisability  of  superseding  Louis. 
The  Tsar  openly  favoured  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  Louis 
was  forced  to  press  for  the  return  of  Talleyrand,  and 
the  signing  of  the  act  of  the  Congress  on  June  9th  left 
him  no  reason  for  delay  in  Vienna.  He  departed  on 
the  following  day,  and  arrived  at  Brussels  on  the  2ist. 

Waterloo  had  been  fought  and  won.  Napoleon 
was  now  a  dead  force,  but  Louis  continued  to  be  a  very 
equivocal  one.  Acting  on  the  unfortunate  advice  of 
Wellington,  the  King  was  re-entering  France  in  the 
train  of  the  allied  armies.  Talleyrand  had  urged  the 
more  politic  course  of  entering  France  independently, 
and  setting  up  the  government  quite  apart  from  their 
influence.  He  concluded  that  the  King  was  again 
swayed  by  his  incompetent  followers,  and  declined  to 
see  him.  He  had  proceeded  to  Mons,  where  the  King 
had  halted,  but  angrily  rejected  the  advice  of  the  more 
moderate  ministers  to  have  an  interview.  In  the  night, 
however,  he  was  awakened  with  the  intelligence  that 
Louis  was  on  the  point  of  leaving  Mons,  and  he  hurried 
across.  Witnesses  who  scanned  Talleyrand's  countenance 
after  the  interview  read  contradictory  expressions  into  it. 
Chateaubriand  says  he  was  "mad  with  rage"  ;  Beugnot, 
a  less  sentimental  observer,  says  that  he  was  in  one  of 
his  best  moods.    Talleyrand  probably  played  the  Sphinx, 


a  H)ipIomatic  IRomancc  323 

but  we  know  from  him  that  he  "made  no  impression" 
on  the  King,  although  he  spoke  very  plainly  to  him  of 
the  divine  right  of  kings  and  the  human  rights  of 
peoples. 

He  had,  apparently,  some  presentiment  of  the  evil 
disposition  of  the  King,  and  had  prepared  a  memo- 
randum to  be  read  at  leisure.  In  this  "  Report  "  he 
gave  his  official  account  of  his  work  at  Vienna,  and 
added  a  very  straight  talk  on  the  situation  in  France. 
While  the  principle  of  legitimacy  was  triumphing  in 
Vienna,  he  said,  it  was  being  enfeebled  in  France  itself. 
He  summarises  the  complainti?  of  constitutionalist 
people,  putting  them  in  the  mouth  of  observers  at 
Vienna.  "  The  source  of  a  power  must  not  be  confused 
with  its  exercise."  "  When  religious  sentiments  were 
profoundly  graven  on  the  hearts  and  were  all-powerful 
in  the  minds  of  the  people,  men  might  believe  that  the 
power  of  the  sovereign  was  an  emanation  of  the 
Divinity.  To-day  it  is  the  general  opinion — and  it  is 
useless  to  seek  to  enfeeble  it — that  governments  exist 
solely  for  the  people."  Neglect  of  these  principles  had 
prepared  the  way  for  Napoleon.  His  memoir  made  no 
more  impression  than  his  conversation. 

The  King  would  not  be  persuaded  to  follow  Talley- 
rand's plan  of  entry  into  France,  and  proceeded  to 
Cambrai.  Talleyrand  ended  by  asking  permission  to 
take  the  waters  at  Carlsbad,  and  the  King  politely 
trusted  they  would  do  him  good.  It  is  useless  to  seek 
to   discover  any  plan   in   Talleyrand's  thoughts  on   the 


324  'C:aUei5raii& 

day  after  the  King  left  him  at  Mons.  There  was 
probably  none.  The  situation  was  too  changeful  and 
precarious  for  such  designs.  He  assisted  at  the  dinner 
given  by  the  Mayor  of  Mons,  and  covered  his  chagrin 
with  more  than  customary  charm  and  brilliance  of 
conversation.  Metternich  wrote  to  confirm  him  in  his 
attitude  ;  but  Wellington  was  determined  to  have  in 
France  "  one  man  they  could  trust,"  and  immediately 
begged  him  to  rejoin  the  King.  He  replied  in  a  long 
letter  to  Wellington,  accepting  his  advice  and  enlarging 
on  the  folly  of  the  King  in  putting  himself  in  the  hands 
of  the  extreme  Royalists.  There  was  still,  he  said,  no 
guarantee  whatever  of  constitutional  procedure,  and  the 
whole  work  of  the  Allies  might  again  be  frustrated. 
But  he  joined  Louis  "amongst  the  baggage  of  the 
English  army  "  at  Cambrai,  and  resumed  the  struggle 
with  evil  influences.  Wellington  now  occupied  the 
predominant  position  that  Alexander  had  held  in  the 
Restoration  of  1814.  Talleyrand  speaks  of  him  at 
the  time  with  no  great  respect,  but  they  later  formed 
an  intimate  friendship. 

When  Talleyrand  arrived  at  Cambrai  a  Council  was 
called  by  the  King.  A  most  tactless  proclamation  had 
been  issued  by  the  Court  party,  and  Talleyrand  now 
submitted  a  second  one  to  the  Council.  It  contained 
such  phrases  as  :  "  My  Government  may  have  made 
mistakes  ;  possibly  it  has."  The  King's  brother  objected 
that  such  an  admission  "lowered  royalty"  and  could 
not  be  made.     When  the  document  went  on  to  describe 


H  ©iploniatic  IRomance  325 

the  King  as  "  carried  away  by  his  affections,"  Monsieur 
warmly  requested  to  know  if  that  was  a  reference  to 
himself.  "Yes,  it  is,"  said  Talleyrand,  "since  Monsieur 
has  placed  the  discussion  on  that  ground.  Monsieur 
has  done  a  great  deal  of  harm."  The  Due  de  Berry 
now  heatedly  interposed  that  only  the  presence  of  the 
King  prevented  him  from  resenting  the  use  of  such 
language  to  his  father.  Louis  stopped  the  quarrel,  and 
said  that  the  proclamation  would  be  altered.  The 
substance  of  it  was  adopted,  however,  and  it  was  issued, 
signed  by  the  King  and  by  Talleyrand. 

They  entered  Paris  on  July  8th,  and  another  phase 
of  Talleyrand's  difficulties  began.  Whether  the  Allies 
would  have  been  more  moderate,  or  less  secure  in  their 
ground,  if  Louis  had  followed  his  advice  and  entered 
France  independently  of  them,  is  not  quite  so  clear  as 
he  would  have  us  think.  In  any  case  the  situation  was 
very  different  from  what  it  had  been  in  18 14.  Prussia 
was  more  determined  than  ever  to  humble  France. 
The  Tsar  was  less  disposed  than  ever  to  curb  Bliicher, 
and  to  protect  Louis.  Wellington  was  the  only  one 
who  was  thoroughly  in  favour  of  the  Restoration  ;  and 
he  was  too  little  acquainted  with  French  affairs  and  too 
eager  to  take  independent  action  to  co-operate  with 
Talleyrand's  plans.  After  two  months  of  exasperating 
struggle  Talleyrand  was  driven  into  retirement. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE    "foreigners    OF     THE    INTERIOR" 

On  July  9th,  the  day  after  the  re-entering  of  Paris, 
Talleyrand  was  appointed  Foreign  Minister  and  President 
of  the  Council.  His  difficulties  began  with  the  new 
Ministry.  He  had  in  June  drawn  up  a  list  of  ministers, 
and  had  carefully  excluded  Fouche  and  included  two 
men  with  a  view  to  conciliating  the  Tsar.  But  Fouche 
was  intrigueing  most  assiduously  for  a  place  in  the 
Ministry.  The  contrast  between  the  two  men  is 
instructive.  Both  have  the  remarkable  history  of  taking 
service  under  the  successive  governments  of  the  country  ; 
both  were  experts  of  the  highest  ability  in  their  respec- 
tive departments.  Yet  while  later  writers  have  expended 
a  vast  amount  of  moral  indignation  over  the  "  knight 
of  the  order  of  the  weathercock"  (as  they  called  Talley- 
rand) there  has  been  comparatively  little  concern  about 
Fouche.  While  Talleyrand  has  been  at  times  buried 
beneath  a  mass  of  such  epithets  as  corruption,  treachery, 
venality,  and  unscrupulousness,  Fouche  has  been  passed 
by  with  a  smile  at  his  knavery.  Nevertheless,  while 
Talleyrand  takes  his  place  with  some  dignity  in  the 
eyes  of  contemporary  statesmen  in  the  successive 
administrations,  Fouche  has  to  resort  to  the  most 
unblushing  jobbery,   and    is    only  admitted   under   the 

326 


ZTbc  ** jfoveigners  of  tbe  interior"         327 

heavy  pressure  of  practical  exigencies.  Nothing  could 
better  illustrate  the  effort  and  prejudice  that  have  been 
thrown  into  the  hostile  interpretation  of  Talleyrand's 
career. 

Fouche  had  been  at  work  since  April,  when,  while 
serving  under  Napoleon,  he  had  offered  the  King  to  get 
rid  of  him  on  condition  of  receiving  the  Ministry  of  Police. 
After  Waterloo  he  flew  from  place  to  place,  and  statesman 
to  statesman,  offering  to  surrender  Napoleon,  obtain  the 
capitulation  of  Paris — anything  in  order  to  get  his  coveted 
place  in  the  Ministry.  He  persuaded  Monsieur  that  he 
was  necessary  for  crushing  the  remainder  of  the  rebel- 
lion, and  at  last  imposed  that  view  on  Wellington. 
Talleyrand  resisted  the  tendency  to  purchase  his  useful 
qualities,  but  was  overruled  and  had  to  admit  him  as  a 
colleague.  He  is  often  blamed  for  not  resigning  at 
once.  No  doubt  he  tested  that  suggestion  by  his  usual 
question:  "  What  good  would  it  do.''"  It  is  difficult 
to  see  any  real  ground  for  censuring  him.  He  strongly 
blames  Wellington  for  admitting  Fouche,  and  suggests 
that  he  was  too  eager  "  to  be  the  first  to  enter  Paris." 
Chateaubriand  was  in  attendance  on  the  King  at 
St.  Denis,  and  saw  Talleyrand  come  from  his  chamber 
leaning  on  Fouche — "  vice  leaning  on  the  arm  of 
crime,"  he  bitterly  says.  It  was  Chateaubriand  above 
all  who  had  implored  Talleyrand  to  come  from  Vienna 
to  the  assistance  of  the  King. 

Talleyrand  was  further  disappointed  in  forming  the 
new    Ministry    by    being    unable    to    include    the    two 


328  Ualle^ran& 

friends  of  the  Tsar.  Pozzo  di  Borgo  preferred  to 
remain  in  the  service  of  Russia.  The  Due  de  Richelieu 
replied  that  he  had  been  twenty  years  out  of  France, 
and  was  quite  incompetent  to  take  a  responsible  position 
in  the  conduct  of  the  affairs  of  the  country.  Talleyrand 
seems  to  have  known  that  the  Tsar  was  pressing  for 
Richelieu  to  replace  himself,  and  he  sent  a  rather 
sarcastic  reply.  When  Richelieu  did  actually  replace 
him  at  the  head  of  the  Ministry  two  months  afterwards, 
he  took  the  mild  revenge  of  inserting  a  copy  of  his 
letter  (pleading  incompetence  for  a  minor  position)  in 
his  memoirs,  and  issuing  a  mot  on  the  subject. 
Someone  asked  him  if  he  really  thought  Richelieu 
capable  of  taking  the  head  of  French  affairs.  "  Of 
course  ;  "  he  said,  "  no  one  in  France  knows  so  much 
about  the  Crimea  as  he  does." 

The  next  step  was  to  nominate  the  prefects  of  depart- 
ments. The  most  competent  men  were  Napoleonists, 
and  could  not  be  reinstated.  On  the  other  hand  the 
Court  party  were  pressing  upon  the  King  a  host  of 
totally  incompetent  men  on  the  plea  that  they  were 
faithful  Royalists.  To  have  been  in  Ghent  became  the 
first  qualification  for  office.  When  one  man  urged  his 
claim  on  Talleyrand  in  this  way  he  asked  :  *'  Are  you 
sure  you  went  to  Ghent,  and  have  not  merely  returned 
from  there."  The  man  was  naturally  puzzled.  "  Because, 
you  see,"  Talleyrand  continued,  "  there  were  only  seven 
or  eight  hundred  of  us  there,  and  to  my  knowledge 
seventy  or  eighty  thousand  have  come  from  there."     But 


Ube  *' if oueioners  ot  tbc  interior"         329 

he  had  to  witness  the  appointment  of  hundreds  of  these 
incapable  Royalists,  while  the  state  of  the  provinces 
demanded  firm  and  competent  adminstrators.  Between 
the  excesses  of  the  allied  troops  and  the  conflicts  of 
Royalists  and  Bonapartists  there  were  sanguinary  dis- 
turbances. One  advantage  was  gained  indirectly.  Fouch^ 
had  to  draw  up  a  report  on  the  troubles  for  the  King, 
and  he  published  this  before  submitting  it  to  his 
colleagues.  He  pretended  it  had  been  stolen  from 
him,  but  Talleyrand  demanded  his  expulsion  from  the 
Ministry,  and  the  King  assented  (September  19th).  The 
mythologists  give  this  as  the  last  dialogue  of  the  two 
ministers.  "  So  you  are  dismissing  me,  you  scoundrel." 
"  Yes,  you  imbecile." 

Meantime  there  were  a  score  of  other  distractions. 
The  conduct  of  the  allied  troops  was  so  exasperating 
and  oppressive  that  the  King  directed  him  to  make  a 
formal  protest.  The  Allies  demanded  guarantees  of 
peace,  and  a  long  and  irritating  correspondence  ensued. 
On  the  other  hand  the  ultras  were  making  every  effort 
to  restore  the  vicious  features  of  the  old  regime,  in 
absolute  blindness  to  the  history  of  the  Hundred  Days  ; 
or,  indeed,  on  the  plea  that  greater  "  firmness  "  in  18 14 
would  have  prevented  Napoleon's  raid.  Talleyrand  was 
sorely  tried.  "With  infinite  trouble,"  he  says,  he 
succeeded  in  maintaining  a  certain  degree  of  liberty  for 
the  Press.  He  had  then  to  combat  the  demand  for  the 
punishment  of  those  who  had  sided  with  Napoleon.  He 
pleaded  that  it  was  enough  to  depose  the  senators  who 


330  xrallc^ranD 

had  offended,  but  a  list  of  a  hundred  names  for 
proscription  had  been  prepared  by  the  obsequious 
Fouche.  After  a  struggle  of  several  days  Talleyrand 
got  the  list  reduced  to  fifty-seven  names.  He  also 
warned  a  large  number  of  those  who  were  to  be 
brought  to  trial,  and  gave  passports  and  money  freely 
so  that  they  might  leave  the  country.  He  dispensed 
459,000  francs  in  this  way.  Moreover,  when  the  King 
went  on  to  create  the  new  peers,  he  prevailed  on  him 
to  include  a  few  of  the  names  of  those  who  had  joined 
Napoleon. 

Nor  were  Talleyrand's  difficulties  with  the  Allies 
themselves  less  considerable.  Immediately  after  the 
entry  into  Paris  Bliicher  had  promised  himself  the 
pleasure  of  blowing  up  the  Pont  Jena,  a  fine  new  bridge 
over  the  river.  His  whole  conduct  was  vindictive.  He 
had  quartered  his  troops  in  the  Place  de  Carrousel,  with 
the  guns  pointing  on  the  gates  of  the  Tuileries.  He  had 
already  mined  two  arches  of  the  bridge  when  the  King 
heard,  and  wrote  to  Talleyrand  that  if  the  threat  were 
carried  out  he  would  have  himself  taken  to  the  bridge 
and  blown  up  with  it.  Talleyrand  at  once  dispatched 
Beugnot  to  "use  the  strongest  language  at  his  command" 
to  Bliicher.  Beugnot  wanted  to  quote  the  King's  letter, 
but  Talleyrand  said  the  Prussians  "  would  not  believe 
we  are  so  heroic  as  that."  BlQcher  was  quickly  discovered 
at  his  favourite  gaming-room  (No.  113,  Palais  Royal), 
and  was  pacified  with  a  promise  that  the  name  of  the 
bridge  would  be  changed. 


XTbe  '* jForeujncrs  of  tbc  interior"         331 

Talleyrand  was  less  successful  in  his  resistance  to 
the  Allies  when  they  claimed  the  statues  and  pictures 
and  other  works  of  art  that  had  been  brought  to  Paris. 
On  September  nth  Castlereagh  wrote  him  that  the 
Pope,  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  the  King  of  the 
Netherlands,  King  of  Prussia,  and  others  demanded 
the  return  of  their  treasures,  and  the  Allies  had  decided 
to  comply.  Talleyrand  at  once  protested  in  the  sacred 
name  of  morality  against  such  a  spoliation  of  the  Parisian 
museums.  At  least,  he  concluded,  this  should  have 
been  done  in  18 14  or  not  at  all.  Wellington  now  took 
up  the  argument,  and  cut  him  short  "  with  the  brutality 
of  a  soldier."  The  phrase  is  scarcely  too  strong.  The 
Duke's  letter  terminated  :  "The  sovereigns  were  unable 
to  wrong  their  subjects  in  order  to  satisfy  the  pride  of 
the  French  army  and  nation,  who  must  be  made  to  feel 
that,  in  spite  of  a  few  temporary  and  partial  advantages 
in  various  States,  the  day  of  restitution  had  come,  and 
the  allied  monarchs  could  not  neglect  this  opportunity 
of  giving  the  French  a  great  lesson  in  morality  !  " 
Talleyrand  observes  in  the  memoirs  that  no  doubt 
Wellington  had  equally  espoused  the  cause  of  morality 
when  he  had  been  on  service  in  India. 

And  through  all  these  troubles  and  distractions 
there  was  the  grave  anxiety  about  the  new  terms  to  be 
offered  to  France  by  the  Allies.  Pasquier  would  have 
us  believe  that  during  these  busy  months  Talleyrand 
was  peculiarly  indolent,  and  that  his  whole  energy  was 
absorbed   in   fretting   over   a  certain    lady   who   seemed 


332  Xi;alle\>cant) 

inclined  to  desert  him.*  But  the  whole  of  Pasquier's 
narrative  at  this  period  is  tinged  with  bitterness  against 
Talleyrand,  and  must  not  lightly  be  followed.  He  is 
too  obviously  trying  to  justify  the  change  from  Talleyrand 
to  his  friend  Richelieu.  However  much  he  may  have 
betrayed  his  concern  at  the  obstinate  absence  from  Paris 
of  his  friend,  it  is,  on  the  face  of  it,  absurd  to  say  that 
he  could  think  of  nothing  else.  We  have  seen  that  he 
had  plenty  to  do,  and  did  it.  If  it  is  true  that  there 
was  a  notable  lack  of  the  intense  energy  he  usually 
displayed  at  critical  periods  (as  Casimir  Perier  says),  it 
is  surely  possible  to  trace  this  to  the  profound  weariness 
and  disgust  that  the  whole  situation  would  inspire. 
Feebly  supported  by  the  King,  hated  and  maligned  by 
the  courtiers,  surrounded  by  the  intrigues  of  the 
Richelieus  and  Pasquiers  and  Fouches,  confronted  with 
the  hostility  of  Prussia  and  Russia  and  annoyed  by  the 
blunders  of  Wellington,  conscious  of  the  wretched  state 
of  the  country  and  of  the  determination  of  the  Allies  to 
undo  their  generosity  of  1814  and  avenge  Vienna, 
convinced  that  he  himself  would  soon  be  cast  aside  as  a 
worn-out  tool,  he  had  cause  enough  for  weariness. 

During  the  whole  of  August  and  the  early  part  of 
September  the  Allies  had  succeeded  in  wrapping  their 
deliberations  in  a  secrecy  which  he  could  not  penetrate. 

•  Pasquier  does  not  name  her.  Lady  Blcnnerhassett  thinks  it  was 
the  Duchess  of  Dino.  It  is  much  more  likely  to  have  been  the  Duchess  of 
Courland,  her  mother,  as  we  find  the  daughter  in  touch  with  Talleyrand. 
The  Duchy  of  Dino  had  been  given  to  the  Foreign  Minister  by  Ferdinand 
IV,  and  he  had  assigned  it  to  his  nephew. 


Zbc  *' jforcioncrs  of  tbc  interior"         333 

About  the  middle  of  September  he  learned  their  terms, 
and  they  were  presented  a  few  days  later  in  "a  sort  of 
ultimatum."  They  themselves  summarised  their  inten- 
tions pointedly  enough  in  the  clause:  "Two-thirds  of 
the  territory  added  to  the  France  of  former  days  by  the 
Treaty  of  Paris  will  now  be  detached  from  it."  In 
addition,  France  was  to  pay  an  indemnity  of  600,000,000 
francs,  provide  200,000,000  to  build  fortresses  against 
herself  in  the  provinces  adjoining  her  frontiers,  and 
maintain  a  foreign  army  of  150,000  men  along  her 
frontiers  for  seven  years  as  a  guarantee  of  peace.  Prussia 
had  triumphed.  The  English  Ministers  had  wished  to 
moderate  the  terms,  but  even  they  were  shaken  when  it 
was  pointed  out  that  the  Netherlands  must  be  strength- 
ened against  France.  Talleyrand,  who  rightly  or  wrongly 
believed  that  the  whole  of  these  harsh  proceedings  of 
the  Allies  would  have  been  prevented  if  Louis  had 
followed  his  advice  at  Mons,  made  a  last  effort  to  resist. 
The  Council  agreed  with  him  in  rejecting  the  terms,  and 
he  wrote  a  long  and  very  able  statement  of  his  objections. 
He  fell  back  on  the  bases  of  his  policy  as  laid  at  Vienna. 
Conquest  did  not,  in  modern  life,  constitute  a  moral 
right  to  confiscation  ;  morever,  Louis  had  been  expressly 
admitted  as  one  of  the  Allies  against  Napoleon.  France 
was  prepared  to  make  sacrifices  in  return  for  the  sacrifices 
of  the  other  Powers,  but  he  would  not  continue  the 
negotiations  if  these  exorbitant  demands  were  pressed. 

Castlereagh,  who  is  severely  censured  by  Lytton  for 
joining  in  these  harsh  claims,  replied  that  the  Allies  made 


334  Ualle^ant) 

no  pretence  whatever  to  a  right  given  by  conquest.  The 
whole  base  of  their  claims  was  the  right  to  indemnity 
and  to  a  territorial  settlement  that  gave  Europe  some 
guarantee  of  stability.  Some  of  the  foreign  repre- 
sentatives were  pressing  for  a  special  notice  of  the 
defiant  conclusion  of  Talleyrand's  letter,  but  he  decided 
to  resign.  Louis  was  prepared  to  yield  ;  he  had  no 
army  with  which  to  threaten  resistance,  and  it  was  clear 
that  Talleyrand's  diplomatic  talent  would  now  avail  him 
nothing.  Talleyrand  explains  that  his  position  was 
weakened  by  the  fact  that  some  of  the  King's  entourage 
were  all  along  in  favour  of  a  cession  of  territory,  and 
that  during  the  Hundred  Days  the  Chamber  of  Repre- 
sentatives had  already  made  the  offer.  He  was,  there- 
fore, unable  to  press  his  last  plea  that  the  country  would 
not  endure  such  terms.  He  resigned  his  post  on 
September  23rd,  rather  than  sign  the  treaty.  Metternich, 
Castlereagh  and  Stewart  begged  him  to  continue  to  be 
"  a  statesman  of  Europe,"  and  Pasquier  admits  that 
almost  all  the  Foreign  Ministers  deeply  regretted  his 
retirement,  though  he  confesses  that  he  himself  did  not 
share  that  feeling.  The  Tsar  was  pleased.  His  favourite, 
the  Due  de  Richelieu,  was  substituted  for  Talleyrand. 
Louis  accepted  his  resignation  with  a  mingled  feeling  of 
apprehension  and  relief.  "I  thank  you  for  your  zeal," 
he  said  to  Talleyrand  before  the  whole  Cabinet  ;  "  you 
are  without  reproach,  and  nothing  prevents  you  from 
living  peacefully  at  Paris."  Talleyrand  replied  :  "  I 
have  had  the  pleasure  of  rendering  to  the  King  services 


tTbe  "jForeioncrs  of  tbe  3ntertor"         335 

enough  to  believe  that  they  have  not  been  forgotten.  I 
am  unable  to  see  how  anything  could  force  me  to  leave 
Paris.  I  shall  stay  here  ;  and  I  shall  be  happy  to  learn 
that  the  King  will  not  be  induced  to  follow  a  line  that 
may  compromise  his  dynasty  and  France." 

Napoleon  had  not  been  very  wide  of  the  mark 
when  he  said  in  18  14  that  the  Bourbons  would  avenge 
him  by  throwing  over  Talleyrand  within  six  months.  It 
did  not,  however,  require  any  great  penetration  to  fore- 
see such  an  issue.  The  personality  of  the  King  and  of 
his  entourage  furnished  solid  ground  for  prophecy.  The 
curious  evolution  of  the  Tsar  into  a  friend  of  Louis  and 
enemy  ot  Talleyrand,  and  his  resumption  of  a  great 
influence  on  French  affairs,  made  further  for  estrange- 
ment ;  and  when  the  first  elections  under  the  Restoration 
gave  the  power  to  the  ultra-royalist  faction  in  the 
country,  the  situation  was  complete.  Talleyrand  retired 
to  write  his  impressions  of  men  and  events.  Louis 
provided  for  him  the  sinecure  of  High  Chamberlain 
at  100,000  francs  a  year,  and  a  further  pension  of  16,000 
francs.  He  did  not  foresee  that  Talleyrand  would  take 
a  conscientious  view  of  his  new  duties,  and  would  haunt 
his  chair,  a  silent,  smiling  Mephistopheles,  for  years  to 
come. 

Talleyrand  probably  felt  that  the  King  would  be 
forced  to  recall  him  in  time.  For  the  moment  he  betook 
himself  to  the  writing  of  the  famous  memoirs  which 
were  to  sustain  the  legend  of  his  inscrutability  until  the 
close  of  the  nineteenth  century.     It  is  probable  that  he 


336  Uallc^ran^ 

had  written  the  material  for  the  first  volume  (up  to 
1809)  already.  In  this  he  gives  a  prosaic  and  brief 
account  of  his  first  fifty  years,  with  lively  and  artistic 
pictures  of  some  of  his  great  fellow  actors  (especially 
the  Due  d'Orleans),  and  with  a  very  discreet  and 
unboastful  account  of  his  share  in  the  Revolution.  The 
second  volume  and  half  of  the  third  carry  the  story  up 
to  the  middle  of  18 14.  The  rest  of  the  work  consists 
almost  entirely  of  his  correspondence  from  Vienna, 
during  the  second  Restoration,  and  from  London  under 
Louis  Philippe  ;  the  letters  being  scantily  threaded  on  a 
brief  and  common-place  narrative.  The  close  of  the 
narrative  at  his  retirement  from  the  Ministry  is  dated 
"Valen^ay,  18 16."  The  rest  was  compiled  in  the  last 
three  years  of  his  life.  He  took  stringent  precautions 
that  they  should  not  be  published  until  thirty  years 
after  his  death,  and  not  even  then  if  those  to  whom 
they  were  entrusted  thought  fit  to  postpone  the  publica- 
tion. It  was,  in  fact,  decided  in  1868  to  refrain  from 
issuing  them  for  another  generation,  and  they  only 
appeared  in  1891.  From  one  end  of  Europe  to  the 
other  there  was  an  expression  of  profound  disappoint- 
ment when  they  appeared.  Such  stringent  measures 
had  promised  stirring  revelations,  but  the  volumes 
contained  absolutely  no  sensational  matter  and  very  little 
that  was  new  to  historians. 

There  is  very  little  of  the  "  apologia "  in  the 
memoirs,  and  not  much  of  the  impulse  that  urged 
most  of  his  contemporaries  to  cover  reams  of  paper  with 


XLbc  "jForefoners  of  tbe  interior"         337 

their  contradictory  versions  of  history.     He   is  usually 
content  to  let  documents  tell  the  story.     But,  though 
Talleyrand  ignores  most  of  the  charges  that  were  made 
against  him,  he  naturally  reviews  history  in  a  light  that 
sets  his   own  career  in  harmony.     Lady  Blennerhassett 
surmises  that  his  chief  object  when  he  wrote  in  i  8  16  was 
to  conciliate  Louis   XVIII,  and  prepare  the  way  for  a 
return  to  power.     Lord  Acton  has  expressed  the  same 
opinion.     It  is  based  on  the  dexterous  presentation  of 
the  way  in  which  he   was  forced    into  the  Revolution, 
the  brevity  with  which  he  dismisses  the  more  offensive 
parts  of  his  share  in  it,  his  explanation  of  Napoleon  as  a 
step   towards   the   Restoration,   and    the   fulness   of  his 
account  of  his  share  in  the  Restoration  and  the  work  at 
Vienna.     But   this    theory   has   to   struggle   desperately 
with  the  fact  that  his  precautions  against  the  publications 
of    the     memoirs    before    the     appointed     time     were 
absolute,  and  must  have  been  sincere.     Nothing  would 
have  been  easier  for  a  man  like  Talleyrand  than  to  have 
secured  an  accidental  disclosure  or  theft  of  his  papers  ; 
and  the  fact  that  he  used  to  read  passages  from  them  to 
a  few  of  his  friends  does  not  further  his  supposed  plan 
in    the    slightest    degree.     Ordinary    conversation    with 
them  would  do  just  as  well.     On   the   other  hand,  we 
can   quite  understand  the  air  of  progressive   policy  he 
gives  to  his  career  by  merely  assuming  that  he  wished 
to  make  it  appear   consistent.      A  statesman   who  was 
convinced  that  monarchy  was  the  best  form  of  govern- 
ment for  France,  and  who,  nevertheless,  took  a  purely 

22 


338  TTaUei^rant) 

rationalist  and  utilitarian  view  of  monarchy,  would  deal 
just  in  that  way  with  his  share  in  the  Revolution  and  the 
Napoleonic  era.  It  was  a  minor  comfort  to  the  epicurean 
to  leave  a  rounded  version  of  his  life  to  posterity. 

The  literary  aspect  of  the  memoirs  may  be 
briefly  dismissed.  Their  authenticity  is  now  beyond 
dispute,  but  it  is  acknowledged  that  Talleyrand  did  not 
write  the  connected  narrative.  He  had  the  habit  of 
jotting  down  his  ideas  on  scraps  of  paper,  and  leaving 
it  to  his  secretaries  to  weave  them  together.  This  was 
done  by  M.  Bacourt  with  the  memoirs.  M.  Pierre 
Bertrand  has,  in  his  preface  to  the  "  Lettres  inedites 
de  Talleyrand  a  Napoleon,"  sufficiently  disposed  of  the 
insinuation  that  Talleyrand  could  not  write.  By  com- 
parison of  the  Prince's  notes  with  the  secretary's  drafts 
and  the  finished  letters  he  has  shown  that  Talleyrand 
counted  for  far  more  than  was  supposed  in  the  composi- 
tion. He  might  have  shown,  by  internal  evidence,  that 
many  of  the  letters  were  wholly  written  by  Talleyrand. 
However,  we  know  that  Talleyrand  dictated  letters,  or 
left  it  to  his  secretaries  to  compose  them,  whenever  it 
was  safe  to  do  so.  It  was  a  sound  economy  ;  and  it 
was  not  unconnected  with  his  heavy  foot-gear,  which 
led  him  to  prefer  the  couch  to  sitting  at  a  table.  Of 
the  literary  quality  of  his  writing  there  is  not  much  to 
be  said.  He  could  do  "fine  writing"  at  times,  as 
Sainte-Beuve  said  ;  and  Lord  Acton  admits  that  much 
of  the  characterisation  in  the  memoirs  is  very  clever. 
But  the  bulk  ot  the  work  is  without  distinction. 


Ubc  "iforetgners  of  tbe  interior"         339 

Talleyrand's  position  in  Paris  during  the  year  after 
his  resignation  was  a  curious  one.  The  Hotel  St. 
Florentin  continued  to  be  a  resort  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished foreigners  and  many  of  the  ablest  French 
politicians,  but  the  strange  conflicts  of  the  time  put  the 
Prince  (Benevento  had  returned  to  the  Papacy,  but  he 
had  now  a  French  title)  in  a  peculiar  attitude.  The 
King  and  the  Cabinet  were  now  engaged  in  a  struggle 
to  defend  constitutional  monarchy  against  the  excesses 
of  the  extreme  Royalists.  Talleyrand  claimed  to  be 
at  once  "  constitutional  and  anti-ministerial."  The 
positive  ground  for  this  attitude  was  that  the  King  had 
annulled  the  elections  and  ordered  fresh  ones,  to  give 
the  Liberals  the  chance  of  undoing  the  triumph  of  the 
reactionaries.  As  a  result  of  this  novel  situation 
Talleyrand  found  himself  using  almost  the  same 
language  as  his  bitterest  Royalist  enemies,  and  declaiming 
against  "  a  Cabinet  that  enslaved  and  degraded  France." 
It  is  quite  clear  that  there  was  an  element  of  calculation 
and  of  prejudice  in  his  position.  His  opposition 
became  so  exasperating  that  the  King  forbade  him  to 
come  to  the  Court  for  some  months. 

After  this  we  have  a  period  of  four  years  of  political 
silence.  Indeed,  only  three  incidents  call  for  our  notice 
during  the  next  fourteen  years.  He  resigned  himself 
once  more  to  the  position  of  a  mere  spectator,  and  was 
content  to  throw  a  light  jet  of  sarcasm  on  the  panorama 
that  passed  before  him.  English  visitors  to  Paris,  who 
eagerly  sought  to  enter  the  Hotel  St.  Florentin,  describe 


34°  XTallepran^ 

him  sitting  in  his  favourite  chair  by  the  open  window  in 
the  summer,  looking  across  to  the  Tuileries.  The  long 
and  luxuriant  hair  now  bore  the  snow  of  more  than  sixty 
winters,  but  was  curled  and  perfumed  every  morning 
with  no  less  care  than  when  he  was  the  Abbe  de  Perigord. 
The  bluish  shade  had  passed  from  his  grey  eyes,  and  as 
age  wore  on  his  eyelids  drooped  more  and  more,  so  that 
he  seemed  at  times  to  sleep  during  conversation.  But 
when  the  moment  came  the  old  fire  would  flash  from 
under  his  shaggy  eye-brows,  and  his  sepulchral  voice 
would  give  forth  a  phrase  that  would  reverberate  through 
all  the  salons  of  Paris.  The  freshness  and  transparency 
of  his  younger  complexion  gave  place  in  time  to  a  death- 
like greyness.  Lady  Morgan,  who  saw  him  at  this 
period,  said  his  face  was  like  that  of  a  sleeping  child.  It 
was  a  superficial  tribute  to  the  art  of  the  two  valets  who 
spent  hours  in  preparing  it  every  day.  Most  visitors 
who  visited  him  at  his  hotel,  or  met  him  in  the  picture 
galleries,  leaning  heavily  on  his  long  stick,  dressed  in  his 
long  blue  overcoat,  and  with  his  chin  sunk  in  his  large 
muslin  cravat,  thought  they  saw  the  face  of  a  dead  or 
dying  man,  or  a  piece  of  yellow  wax-work — until  his  eye 
pierced  them. 

His  temperate  habits  had  spared  his  health  and 
energy.  In  the  later  years  he  would  rise  about  eleven, 
spend  two  or  three  hours  in  leisurely  dressing  and 
chatting  to  privileged  visitors,  take  only  one  meal  a 
day,  and  spend  the  evening — and  far  into  the  morning — 
in   whist   or   billiards  or  conversation  or  writing.     He 


From  a  mezzotint,  after  the  picture  by  Scheffer. 
TALLEYRAND 

(Under  LquisXVlII.). 


[p.  340. 


XTbe  "iforeioncrs  of  tbc  interior"         341 

had  four  head  cooks,  each  the  best  in  his  department, 
but  most  observers  agree  that  he  ate  sparingly,  and  at 
no  time  of  his  career  sinned  against  his  epicureanism  by 
excessive  drinking.  A  few  glasses  of  choice  Madeira 
sufficed  him.  He  drank,  or  rather  enjoyed,  exquisite 
coffee,  and  loved  to  have  sweet  and  subtle  odours  about 
him,  and  to  move  or  sit  amongst  rare  china  or  books  and 
fine  inlaid  furniture.  He  never  slept  much.  He  main- 
tained to  the  end  of  his  days  that  his  constitution  took 
its  rest  while  he  was  awake.  His  heart  used  to  stand 
still,  as  it  were,  after  every  few  beats,  and  he  formed  the 
theory  that  this  was  as  beneficial  as  sleep. 

Mme.  Talleyrand  had  separated  from  him  in  18  15. 
The  new  regime  would  have  points  enough  in  his 
person  to  fix  upon  without  being  constantly  reminded 
that  he  was  that  unutterable  thing,  "a  married  priest." 
He  made  an  arrangement  by  which  she  was  to  remain 
in  England,  and  receive  from  him  a  pension  of  60,000 
francs  a  year.  He  corresponded  with  her  for  some 
time,  but  she  gradually  dropped  out  of  his  life.  Once 
it  was  being  laughingly  told  in  Paris  how  she  had  come 
back  in  spite  of  her  arrangement  with  him,  and  Louis 
incautiously  asked  him  if  this  was  true.  "  Yes,  Sire," 
he  replied.  "  I  also  have  had  to  have  my  20th  of 
March  "  (the  date  of  the  King's  flight  from  Napoleon). 
She  died  in  Paris  in  1835.  Talleyrand  made  constant 
inquiries  of  her  in  the  last  illness. 

The  Duchess  of  Courland  seems  to  pass  out  ot 
his  life  after   18 15.     But  her  daughter,   Dorothy,  now 


342  Uallc^ran^ 

Duchess  of  Dino,  took  her  place,  and  they  remained 
strongly  attached  until  his  death.  She  separated  from 
her  husband  (his  nephew),  and  lived  with  or  near 
Talleyrand.  As  beautiful,  charming,  and  accomplished 
as  her  mother,  she  brought  great  comfort  to  his  later 
years.  Her  little  daughter  Pauline  was  another  ray  of 
sunshine  in  the  last  grey  winter  days. 

Most  of  his  time  during  the  fourteen  years  of 
waiting  for  his  next  piece  of  work  was  spent  at  Valen^ay. 
Visitors  from  England  were  familiar  with  the  large 
mansion  with  the  broad  Moorish  towers,  the  round 
domes,  and  the  gilt  weathercocks,  that  broke  on  one  at 
the  head  of  the  long  chestnut  avenue.  Here,  with  a 
large  park  in  which  he  could  take  his  drives,  he  would 
retire  for  months  together,  and  entertain  large  numbers 
of  visitors  from  Paris  or  from  England.  It  is  worth 
noting  that  he  was  an  exceptionally  kind  and  generous 
master.  A  fine  lady  who  saw  a  servant  accidentally 
upset  him  in  his  bath-chair  one  day  expressed  a  hope  to 
a  higher  domestic  that  the  Prince  would  get  rid  of  him. 
"  Monsieur  is  not  a  Russian  prince,"  was  the  reply. 
A  good  servant  was  well  cared  for  by  him  long  after 
his  power  of  service  was  exhausted.  It  is  necessary  to 
urge  these  small  points.  So  many  people  still  fail  to 
understand  what  epicureanism  is. 

In  1 82 1  Royer-Collard  the  Puritan  philosopher  and 
Liberal  statesman  came  to  live  within  a  few  leagues  of 
Valen^ay.  Talleyrand  at  once  decided  to  lay  diplomatic 
siege    to    Chateaux    Vieux    and    secure    an    interesting 


TTbe  "iforcigners  of  tbc  interior"         343 

neighbour.  The  moralist  is  said  to  have  been  uneasy 
at  Talleyrand's  proposal  to  visit  him,  and  pleaded  his 
wife's  illness  and  other  excuses.  Talleyrand  drove  over, 
nevertheless,  with  his  graceful  auxiliary,  the  Duchess. 
Chateaux  Vieux  was  built  on  the  summit  of  a  slight  hill, 
and  was  approached  through  a  wild  and  rough  country. 
"  My  dear  sir,"  said  Talleyrand  when  he  reached  the 
house,  "  you  present  a  rather  austere  aspect  to  visitors." 
The  Stoic  was,  however,  disabused  of  his  hearsay 
notion  of  Talleyrand,  and  became  an  intimate  and 
cordial  friend.  Sainte-Beuve  says  that  as  Talleyrand 
was  now  in  his  eightieth  year  (he  should  have  said 
seventieth),  and  virtue  was  still  his  cote  faibky  he  wanted 
to  strengthen  it  with  the  moralist  and  prepare  for  the 
later  confessor.  If  we  suppose  that  Talleyrand  desired 
to  avail  himself  for  ordinary  social  purposes  of  a  cultured 
neighbour  it  seems  to  meet  the  case. 

He  built  a  second  country-house,  at  Rochecotte, 
on  the  Loire,  about  seven  leagues  from  Saumur. 
Though  he  gave  this  mansion  to  the  Duchess,  it  was  his 
favourite  residence.  It  was  built  on  a  verdant  hill  by 
the  river,  and  the  road  led  up  through  a  fine  garden, 
cut  in  the  side  of  the  hill,  to  the  creeper-covered  house. 
He  had  a  large  and  rich  library  here  also,  and  a  beau- 
tiful collection  of  the  art-treasures  he  loved  to  see  about 
him.  Japanese  porcelain,  Medici  vases.  Buhl  cabinets, 
and  other  costly  objects  filled  the  rooms.  Here,  in 
later  years,  he  often  entertained  the  rising  young  men 
of  France — Thiers,  Villemain,  De  Broglie,  &c. — as  well 


344  XTalle^ranb 

as  his  older  friends.  But  he  saw  the  latter  pass  one  by- 
one  into  the  silence,  and  he  marked  off  their  ages  with 
a  smile  of  satisfaction  at  his  own  health  and  vigour. 

Paris  was  growing  accustomed  to  regard  him  as  a 
picturesque  survival  of  the  wonderful  past.  He  has 
very  little  share  in  its  active  life  during  those  long 
years.  At  first  he  persisted  in  discharging  his  nominal 
duties  as  Chamberlain,  standing  in  silence  behind  the 
King's  chair  at  dinner,  and  so  on.  This  was  a  dignity 
that  Louis  did  not  entirely  appreciate.  There  is  a  story 
that  he  made  many  efforts  to  get  rid  of  Talleyrand 
without  success.  After  asking  Talleyrand  several  times 
whether  it  was  not  true  that  he  contemplated  retiring  to 
Valen9ay,  and  receiving  bland  assurances  that  it  was 
not,  he  at  last  ventured  to  ask  how  far  it  was  to 
Valen9ay.  "  I  am  not  sure,"  Talleyrand  is  described  as 
saying  ;  "  but  I  should  think  it  is  as  far  again  as  from 
here  to  Ghent."  The  story-teller  says  that  Louis 
dropped  no  more  hints  on  that  subject.  There  is 
another  Ghent  story  that  is  said  to  have  annoyed  Louis. 
A  lady  was  complaining  to  Talleyrand  that  the  King 
was  not  Royalist  enough.  "Why,"  he  said,  "he  was 
at  Ghent,  and  is  ready  to  go  again." 

There  are,  as  I  said,  only  two  interventions  in  public 
affairs  during  these  fourteen  years.  In  1820  the  Prince 
thought  he  was  on  the  point  of  re-entering  politics,  and 
he  projected  a  Ministry,  but  he  was  not  invited  to  form 
one.  The  new  Ministry  introduced  in  the  following 
year  a  law  for  the  censorship  of  the  press,  and  Talleyrand 


ZTbe  ** ^foreigners  of  tbe  interior"         345 

rose  to  oppose  it  in  the  House  of  Peers.  He  made  a 
long  and  stirring  appeal  for  the  liberty  of  the  press, 
which  he  described  as  "  one  of  the  essential  instruments 
of  representative  government."  Boldly  defending  the 
better  elements  of  the  Revolution  and  the  philosphers 
who  prepared  the  way  for  it,  he  threatened  the 
reactionaries  with  the  force  of  public  opinion.  "  To- 
day," he  said,  "  it  is  not  easy  to  deceive  for  long. 
There  is  someone  who  has  more  intelligence  than 
Voltaire,  more  intelligence  than  Bonaparte,  more  than 
the  Directors  or  any  Minister,  past,  present,  or  to  come 
— that  is,  everybody."  The  feeling  is  unmistakeably 
sincere.  Through  the  Napoleonic  and  Bourbonien 
phases  he  has  returned  substantially  to  the  position  ot 
1789.  In  1800  he  had  smiled  at  Napoleon's  treatment 
of  the  press.  Experience  had  brought  him  back  to 
moderate  democracy. 

Two  years  later  he  again  protested  against  the 
action  of  the  Government.  When  the  Revolution  had 
swept  away  the  throne  in  Spain,  the  Royalist  interest  in 
France  determined  to  intervene  and  restore  it.  Talley- 
rand had  not  an  opportunity  of  delivering  his  speech, 
but  he  had  it  published  and  made  some  impression.  He 
recalled  Napoleon's  unhappy  intervention,  and  predicted 
that  the  present  raid,  which  he  described  as  equally 
immoral,  would  end  as  disastrously.  He  was  wrong  in 
his  prophecy,  but  undoubtedly  right  in  his  protest.  His 
manifesto  reveals  on  another  side  the  maturing  of  his 
liberal  and  humanitarian  views. 


34^  Uallc^ran& 

In  1829  an  incident  occurred  that  has  furnished  his 
critics  with  the  last  of  their  graver  charges  against 
him — if  we  except  his  "  desertion  "  of  Charles  X.  On 
January  21st  he  was  present  at  the  mass  in  Notre 
Dame  in  commemoration  of  the  death  of  Louis  XVI. 
Suddenly  a  man  sprang  from  the  crowd,  and  felled  the 
aged  prince  to  the  ground  with  a  heavy  blow  on  the 
face.  This  man  was  that  famous  Marquis  de  Maubreuil, 
whose  adventures  have  lately  been  presented  by  Mr. 
Vizetelly.  He  had  adopted  this  brutal  means  of  bringing 
a  grievance  before  the  public.  His  story  was  that 
Taylleyrand  had  engaged  him  in  18 14  to  assassinate 
Napoleon,  and  had  afterwards  disowned  the  contract. 
For  serious  and  impartial  readers  it  is  enough  to  learn 
the  character  of  this  unprincipled  adventurer.  It  is 
clear  that  he  did  in  18 14  obtain  some  kind  of  secret 
mission,  money,  and  a  passport  from  the  provisional 
government.  Talleyrand  says  that  a  large  number  ot 
men  were  needed  for  missions  in  the  provinces,  and 
in  the  stress  and  confusion  of  the  time  there  was  not  a 
strict  discrimination.  At  all  events  Maubreuil  left  Paris 
with  an  armed  company  and  regular  passports.  In  the 
forest  of  Fontainebleau  he  overtook  the  Queen  of 
Westphalia,  who  was  flying  from  France.  Maubreuil 
stopped  her  equipage,  ransacked  her  luggage,  and  made 
off  with  her  jewellery  and  a  considerable  sum  of  money. 
He  was  caught  and  sentenced  to  five  years'  imprisonment 
in  181 8,  but  escaped  to  England,  where  he  had  a  fine 
market  for  his  stories.     He  returned  to  France  in  1827, 


CHARLES    X. 


[p.  346. 


xrbc  "iforeioncrs  ot  tbe  interior"         347 

and  drew  public  attention  by  his  attack  on  Talleyrand, 
then  in  his  seventy-third  year.  I  will  only  add  that, 
after  serving  five  years  for  the  assault,  he,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-three,  married  a  prostitute  (the  daughter  of  his 
former  coachman)  for  the  sake  of  her  money. 

Serious  history  would  not  listen  for  a  second  to 
the  unsupported  word  of  such  a  man.  The  life  of 
Talleyrand  lies  on  a  peculiar  plane,  and  Maubreuil's 
accusation,  that  he  engaged  him  to  murder  Napoleon, 
has  been  treated  with  the  usual  hypocritical  gravity. 
The  only  attempt  at  confirmation  is  found  by  the 
diligent  Sainte-Beuve  in  a  floating  rumour  that  one  ot 
Talleyrand's  confidants  was  heard  to  ask  :  "  How  many 
millions  do  you  ask  ?"  As  Maubreuil  did  not  pretend 
to  have  treated  with  either  Louis  or  De  Pradt,  and  as 
the  likelihood  of  such  a  contract  being  heard  by  others 
is  inconceivable,  the  rumour  would  be  worth  little  even 
if  it  were  better  grounded.  The  only  other  attempt  at 
confirmation  is  made  by  the  amiable  Pasquier,  who  says 
that  Dalberg  told  him  men  had  been  found  who  would 
get  access  to  the  Emperor  in  the  uniform  of  chasseurs 
of  the  guard  and  do  away  with  him.  As  Maubreuil 
spoke  of  a  design  of  using  this  uniform,  Pasquier 
concluded  he  was  the  proposed  leader  of  the  band,  and 
Talleyrand  the  instigator.  On  this  kind  of  evidence 
Sainte-Beuve  is  vaguely  sure  that  we  may  connect 
Talleyrand  with  the  idea  of  assassination,  just  as  he  has 
a  "  terrible  doubt  "  whether  we  may  not  connect  him 
with  the  death  of  Mirabeau.      Thus  has   the   mythical 


348  Ualle^ranb 

Talleyrand  been  put  together.  There  are  those  who, 
in  such  a  case,  would  take  the  word  of  Maubreuil 
himself,  quite  apart  from  the  thin  rumour  that  Sainte- 
Beuve  has  captured  after  it  has  floated  about  Paris  for 
half  a  century,  and  the  strained  recollections  ot 
Pasquier. 

"I  am,"  said  Talleyrand,  "an  old  umbrella  on 
which  the  rain  has  beaten  for  forty  years  :  a  drop  more 
or  less  makes  no  difference."  He  continued  to  watch 
from  his  long  chair  at  the  window  over  the  Tuileries, 
and  smile  at  the  blunders  that  were  hurrying  the 
Bourbons  ofi^  the  stage  once  more.  Napoleon  had  gone 
in  1 82 1.  "  It  is  not  an  event,"  he  said  ;  "  only  a  piece 
of  news."  Louis  died  in  1824.  The  pious  and  narrow- 
minded  Charles  X  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Clerical 
party.  They  readmitted  the  Jesuits  in  thin  disguise. 
"  M.  Cuvier,"  asked  Talleyrand  of  the  great  zoologist, 
"which  are  the  most  grateful  animals.''"  Cuvier  was 
puzzled.  "The  turkeys,  of  course,"  said  the  Prince, 
"  because  the  Jesuits  introduced  the  turkeys,  and  now 
the  turkeys  (^Anglice,  geese)  are  re-introducing  the 
Jesuits."  Someone  told  him  that  Chateaubriand  was 
getting  deaf.  "  He  fancies  he's  deaf,"  said  Talleyrand, 
"  because  he  does  not  hear  people  talking  about  him 
any  longer."  At  last  the  crisis  came,  and  the  king- 
maker stepped  into  public  life  once  more. 


CHAPTER    XVII 


THE    LAST    ACT 


Talleyrand  had  acquired  through  his  long  experience 
a  sense  of  political  equilibrium.  Men  of  science  point 
out  to  us  in  lowly  marine  organisms  a  little  vesicle  filled 
with  fluid  and  containing  a  little  stone.  It  is  the  organ 
by  which  they  feel  that  they  are  ascending  or  descending. 
In  some  such  way  Talleyrand  felt  the  motion  when  the 
governing  power  had  begun  to  descend  a  slope.  In 
the  later  twenties  he  knew,  as  many  did,  that  Charles  X 
was  moving  towards  the  abyss  into  which  he  had  seen 
so  many  plunge.  The  King  was  too  narrowly  Catholic 
to  love  Talleyrand,  and,  though  their  relation  was 
amiable  enough  during  the  Martignac  Ministry,  Talley- 
rand's house  became  once  more  ;he  centre  of  the 
opposition.  All  the  older  Liberals  and  a  large  number 
of  the  younger  men  used  to  gather  about  his  couch  in 
the  morning,  or  fill  his  rooms  in  the  evening  from 
eleven  to  one.  The  Martignac  Ministry  was  the  last 
effort  to  stem  the  tide  of  reaction.  But  Charles  X  was 
quietly  hostile  to  its  enlightened  policy,  and  he  dismissed 
it  at  the  first  check.  On  August  8th  (1829)  he  bade 
the  Prince  de  Polignac,  a  man  of  his  own  views,  form  a 
Clerical  ministry.     Talleyrand  left  Paris  for  Rochecotte 

349 


350  TTalle^ranb 

in  the  interest  of  his  health.  It  was  said  in  Paris  that, 
as  when  Napoleon  set  out  for  Russia,  he  had  declared  it 
*' the  beginning  of  the  end." 

At  Rochecotte  he  was  visited  by  Mole,  Sebastian!, 
de  Broglie,  Villemain,  and  numbers  of  other  politicians. 
Thiers  also  was  there,  but  Talleyrand  regarded  him 
rather  as  a  promising  writer  whan  a  politician.  There 
was  no  plotting  at  Rochecotte.  It  was  unnecessary. 
While  Polignac  v/as  receiving  directions  form  the  Virgin 
Mary  in  visions  for  the  governing  of  France,  Liberal 
leagues  were  being  organised  everywhere,  and  the 
second  revolution  was  preparing.  "A  thousand  sinister 
rumours  are  circulating  in  the  capital,"  said  an  orator 
from  the  tribune.  In  March  (1830)  Roger  Collard 
presented  to  the  King  an  address,  voted  by  the  Chamber 
and  drawn  up  by  Guizot  and  himself.  The  King  replied 
by  proroguing  the  Chamber  until  September.  "So  you 
have  decided  on  prorogation,"  said  Talleyrand  to  one  ot 
the  ministers.  "  Well,  I  think  I  shall  buy  a  little 
property  in  Switzerland."  Charles  X  declared  he  would 
make  no  concessions.  Weakness  had  destroyed  Louis 
XVI  ;  "  for  my  part  I  have  no  alternative  but  the 
throne  or  the  scaffold."  *'  He  forgets  the  post-chaise," 
said  Talleyrand. 

In  May  Talleyrand  was  back  at  Rochecotte,  tending 
his  peaches  and  flowers  as  he  loved  to  do,  and  discussing 
the  situation  with  Thiers,  Mignet,  and  others.  The 
elections  had  gone  heavily  against  the  ministers.  On 
June   iith  he  wrote  to  the  Princess  de  Vaudemont  that 


LOUIS    PHILIPPE,    KING    OF   THK    FRENCH. 


[p.  350. 


XTbe  Xast  Bet  351 

"the  decisive  moment  was  at  hand."  On  the  r4th  he 
wrote  to  Barante ,  "We  are  moving  onward  towards  an 
unknown  world,  without  pilot  or  compass  :  the  only 
certain  thing  is  that  it  will  all  end  in  shipwreck," 
Although  he  had  certainly  discussed  the  change  from 
Bourbons  to  Orleanists  with  his  friends,  he  was  really  in 
a  state  of  great  concern  and  anxiety.  It  was  not  at  all 
certain  that  they  would  be  consulted  as  to  the  future. 
The  excesses  of  the  Clerical  and  Royalist  party  had  so 
deeply  moved  the  country  that  a  bloody  rebellion  and 
mob-triumph  was  possible.  In  July  he  was  back  at 
Paris.  On  the  26th  appeared  the  royal  ordinances  that 
would  destroy  the  liberty  of  the  press,  dissolve  the 
Chamber,  and  manipulate  the  elections.  On  the  follow- 
ing day  he  saw  the  troops  marching  to  destroy  the 
machines  of  the  rebellious  printers,  and  the  first  barri- 
cades raised  in  their  path.  It  is  said  that  he  had  the 
large  golden  sign,  "  Hotel  Talleyrand,"  taken  down  from 
over  the  gate  of  his  house.  His  darkest  recollections 
of  1792  were  revived.  On  the  morning  of  the  28th 
the  streets  of  Paris  were  found  to  be  cut  everywhere 
with  barricades.  The  tricolour  floated  from  the  roof  ot 
the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  Notre  Dame. 

The  long  days  of  the  28th  and  29th  were  spent 
in  great  anxiety.  His  secretary  (or  that  extremely 
imaginative  person  who  has  dressed  up  and  expounded 
Colmache's  "  Recollections  ")  says  that  when  the  tocsin 
rang  out  on  the  morning  of  the  28th  the  Prince 
exclaimed  :    "  Hark  !      We  triumph."     When  the  man 


352  xralle\?ran& 

asked  who  triumphed,  he  is  said  to  have  answered  : 
"Hush!  I  will  tell  you  to-morrow."  On  the  29th 
he  tried  to  induce  the  peers  to  take  a  definite  line,  but 
they  were  too  timid.  On  the  30th  the  rumour  spread 
that  the  King  had  fled  from  St.  Cloud.  He  sent  his 
secretary  to  make  inquiries  at  the  palace,  and  heard  that 
it  was  so.  He  then  sent  Colmache  with  a  note,  to  be 
burned  in  the  secretary's  presence  or  returned  to  him, 
to  the  sister  of  the  Due  d'Orleans,  Mme.  Adelaide,  who 
was  at  Neuilly  with  the  Duke.  The  note  merely  said  : 
"  Madame  may  have  full  confidence  in  the  bearer,  who 
is  my  secretary."  The  secretary  was  instructed  to  tell 
her  that  the  Duke  must  come  to  Paris  and  call  himself 
Lieutenant-General  of  the  kingdom — "  the  rest  will 
follow."  Before  night  the  Duke  was  at  the  Palais 
Royal.  Charles  X  had  withdrawn  his  inspired  ordinances 
at  three  o'clock  that  afternoon,  but  it  was  too  late.  The 
Republicans  were  gradually  controlled,  and  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  was  accepted  as  the  head  of  the  State. 

This  was  Talleyrand's  share  in  the  second  Revolu- 
tion, and  the  fifth  change  of  government  in  France 
during  his  career.  He  took  his  last  oath  of  loyalty 
without  hesitation.  Speaking  once  to  an  Imperialist 
who  distrusted  him,  he  said  :  "  I  have  never  kept  fealty 
to  anyone  when  he  has  himself  ceased  to  obey  the 
dictates  of  common  sense.  If  you  will  judge  all  my 
actions  by  this  rule  you  will  find  that  I  have  been 
eminently  consistent."  Certainly,  there  is  no  serious 
need  of  justifying  his  conduct  in  1830.     He  had  plainly 


JLbc  Xast  Hct  353 

told  Louis  XVIII  the  conditions  on  which  the  Bourbons 
were  reinstated.  "  Governments  exist  to-day  solely 
for  the  people."  Louis  and  his  friends  had  tried  to 
reverse  the  principle.  Charles  X  had  thought  govern- 
ment a  branch  of  the  Church. 

Talleyrand's  restoration  to  public  affairs  was  a 
matter  of  course.  Louis  -  Philippe  offered  him  the 
Foreign  Ministry,  but  he  felt  that  the  embassy  at 
London  would  be  at  once  less  onerous  and  more 
important.  Once  more  Talleyrand's  bias  towards 
England  proved  its  soundness.  They  agreed  that 
London  must  be  made  the  pivot  of  France's  foreign 
policy.  Austria,  Russia,  and  Prussia  looked  with  little 
favour  on  the  new  outburst  of  French  revolutionary 
ardour,  or  on  the  monarchy  it  had  set  up  on  deliberate 
utilitarian  grounds.  The  best  guarantee  for  the 
preservation  of  peace  was  to  convince  and  draw  close 
to  England.  Here,  again,  where  the  principles  on  which 
the  throne  of  Louis-Philippe  was  raised  should  be  familiar 
enough,  there  was  (apart  from  the  trouble  that  super- 
vened in  Belgium)  a  very  natural  tendency  to  view  the 
outburst  with  alarm.  Wellington  had  said  in  18 15, 
when  the  Duke  of  Orleans  was  proposed  for  the  French 
throne,  that  he  would  be  "  merely  a  well-bred  usurper." 
What  would  he  say  now  ?  The  instability  of  Louis- 
Philippe's  first  ministry  and  the  propagandist  expressions 
of  the  revolutionaries  at  Paris  made  the  situation  more 
difficult.  It  was  decided  that  Talleyrand  would  be  most 
useful  at  London.      He   received  a  very  amiable   reply 

23 


354  TTalle^rant) 

from  Lord  Aberdeen  (then  Foreign  Minister)  to  the 
announcement  of  his  appointment,  and  left  Paris  on 
September  22nd,  and  reached  "  beautiful  England,  so 
rich,  so  peaceful,"  a  few  days  later.  The  cannonade  at 
Dover  that  welcomed  his  arrival  reminded  him  of  the 
day  when  he  had  last  quitted  the  country  under  an 
ignominious  order  of  expulsion. 

There  were  many  sources  of  opposition  to  Talley- 
rand's mission,  and  he  was  at  first  exposed  to  great 
annoyance.  Caricatures  in  Piccadilly  shops  represented 
him  as  a  cripple  leading  the  blindfolded  Kings  of 
Europe,  or  as  a  trainer  leading  a  monkey  dressed  in  the 
livery  of  the  new  French  monarchy.  In  society  he  had 
to  face  a  good  deal  of  prejudice  against  the  new  regime. 
He  had  his  own  way  of  answering  it.  "  Say  what  you 
like,"  the  Russian  Ambassador's  wife  once  said  in  his 
presence,  "  what  has  taken  place  in  France  is  a  flagrant 
usurpation."  "  You  are  quite  right,  madame,"  he 
replied.  "Only  it  is  to  be  regretted  it  did  not  take 
place  fifteen  years  ago  when  your  master,  Alexander, 
desired  it."  The  Princess  Lieven  afterwards  became 
friendly.  On  the  other  hand  he  was  well  received  by 
Aberdeen  and  cordially  welcomed  by  Wellington  and 
his  older  friends. 

The  personnel  of  his  embassy  was  not  impressive, 
he  himself  admits.  In  the  obituary  notice  of  him  a 
few  years  later  in  the  Morning  Posly  he  is  described  as 
receiving  visitors  in  his  salon  with  a  high  hat  and  a  huge 
tricolour  rosette  on  it,  while  three  young  sansculottists 


ZTbe  Xast  act  355 

lounged  with  revolutionary  freedom  on  the  couch.  This 
was  an  echo  of  the  hostility  of  1830.  Talleyrand  had 
always  been  strongly  opposed  to  the  obtrusion  of  French 
revolutionary  feelings  at  other  courts  or  capitals,  and  is 
not  likely  to  have  furnished  the  slightest  ground  for  this 
gibe  over  his  coffin.  He  had  brought  the  Duchess  de 
Dino  with  him,  and  this  relieved  the  character  of  his 
mission.  Such  productions  of  the  time  as  "  Raikes' 
Journal "  indicate  how  prominent  and  distinguished  a 
place  he  at  once  took  up  in  the  country.  In  fact  the 
writer  in  the  Morning  Post  himself  says  that  in  time 
Palmerston  was  almost  the  only  man  to  stand  con- 
spicuously aloof  from  the  aged  Prince,  and  speak  of 
him  disdainfully  as  "old  Tally." 

The  great  issue  that  complicated  his  work  at 
London  was  the  revolt  of  Belgium  against  the  Dutch. 
Talleyrand  had  looked  forward  to  the  not  uncongenial 
task  of  introducing  the  new  monarchy  into  the  respectable 
society  of  the  older  ones  in  Europe  by  prevailing  on 
England  to  espouse  its  cause.  Knowing  well  the  pacific 
feeling  of  Louis-Philippe  and  his  political  integrity,  he 
had  every  reason  to  hope  for  success  in  this  without 
more  than  an  easy  and  cheerful  use  of  his  own 
accomplishments.  Aristocratic  feeling  even  in  England 
was  suspicious  and  reserved.  He  would  disarm  it,  and 
place  in  the  hands  of  the  French  Foreign  Office  the 
strong  card  of  England's  friendship.  Unfortunately  for 
his  peace,  the  spirit  of  the  Revolution  spread  immediately 
into  Belgium,  and  the  Dutch  were  gradually  driven  out 


356  xrallc^ran& 

of  the  country.  It  was  England  especially  that  had 
created  this  joint  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands  in  1815, 
and  she  now  looked  with  concern  on  what  seemed  to  be 
an  attempt  of  France  to  regain  the  control  of  Belgium. 

The  news  from  France  increased  the  difficulty. 
There  was  a  strong  and  loud  demand  at  Paris  for  the 
annexation  of  the  rich,  and  largely  French,  provinces  of 
Belgium,  and  this  was  echoed  by  a  considerable  party 
at  Brussels.  So  powerful  was  the  feeling  and  so  moving 
the  temptation,  that  the  French  Cabinet  itself  inclined 
to  it  and  the  King  hesitated.  From  the  end  of  October 
until  the  end  of  February  Talleyrand  had  to  fight  the 
whole  of  Paris,  as  well  as  allay  anxiety  at  London.  But 
he  was  convinced  that  a  general  v/ar  would  ensue  if 
France  directly  or  indirectly  recovered  control  of 
Belgium,  and  he  fought  bravely  for  peace  against  King 
and  ministers  and  people.  Non-intervention  was  the 
word  that  he  pleaded  unceasingly  at  London  and 
thundered  at  Paris.  There  is  a  story  that  when  some- 
one at  London  asked  him  to  define  non-intervention  he 
said  it  was  "  a  metaphysical  and  political  term  that 
meant  pretty  much  the  same  thing;  as  intervention." 
He  may  have  said  so  for  the  fun  of  the  phrase, 
but  his  correspondence  with  Paris  shows  that  he  was 
in  deepest  earnest  about  it. 

His  policy  at  London  was  perfectly  straight,  but 
unfortunately  his  diplomatic  history  made  many  hesitate 
to  accept  it  as  such.  It  is  said  that  once  under  the 
Empire  some  piece  of  news  relating  to  Spain  had  reached 


Ube  Xast  act  357 

the  knowledge  of  the  Spanish  Minister,  and  Napoleon 
grumbled.  Talleyrand  said  he  would  put  the  matter 
right.  He  went  to  M.  d'Azara,  said  that  he  had 
something  important  to  whisper  to  him  regarding  his 
country,  and  then  told  him  precisely  the  piece  of  news 
that  had  leaked  out.  D'Azara  was  so  far  unable  to 
conceive  Talleyrand  speaking  the  truth  in  such  a  matter 
that  he  concluded  the  whole  story  was  a  hoax,  and  wrote 
to  his  Government  to  disregard  the  information  he  had 
sent  them.  At  London  in  1830  and  1831  Talleyrand 
was  pleading  in  perfect  sincerity  for  non-intervention, 
but  Palmerston  (who  came  to  the  Foreign  Office  in 
November)  and  others  were  unable  to  believe  him.  The 
more  he  assured  them  of  his  struggle  against  his  own 
Government,  the  more  they  suspected  him.  Palmerston 
dreaded  his  diplomatic  ascendancy,  and  looked  for  his 
secret  inspiration  in  every  movement  towards  war  and 
territorial  expansion  that  was  reported  from  Paris. 

There  was  no  unreality  about  Talleyrand's  state- 
ment that  he  was  fighting  his  own  Government.  In 
November  they  sent  Count  Flahaut  to  assist  him  in 
London  and  induce  him  to  favour  the  scheme  of  a 
partition  of  Belgium  between  Holland,  England,  Prussia, 
and  France.  Talleyrand  told  him  he  would  cut  off  his 
right  hand  before  signing  such  a  treaty,  and  sent  him 
back  to  Paris.  Sebastiani  (Foreign  Minister)  then 
sounded  Talleyrand  on  a  scheme  for  making  the  King's 
son,  the  Due  de  Nemours,  King  of  Belgium,  and  was 
told   that    it  was  a  "  mad   idea."     Talleyrand,   in  fact, 


358  XraUe^ran& 

resorted  to  the  device  of  writing  constantly  to  the 
King's  sister,  Mme.  Adelaide,  and  told  her  the  Duke 
"must  absolutely  refuse"  the  Belgian  crown  if  it  were 
offered  to  him.  He  believed  that  Belgium  would  not 
remain  a  distinct  nation  (in  which  his  sagacity  failed 
altogether),  and  might  eventually  fall  to  France,  but  for 
the  moment  it  was  "a  secondary  matter."  "We  must 
make  France  first,"  he  said.  But  the  Congress  at  Brussels 
on  February  3rd  did  invite  the  Due  de  Nemours  to  the 
throne,  and  Paris  wavered  once  more.  Talleyrand 
signed  a  protocol  at  London  engaging  France  to  refuse 
the  crown  for  the  Due  de  Nemours.  Sebastiani  com- 
plained seriously,  and  Talleyrand  had  to  submit,  but 
added  that  "if  it  seemed  to  him  at  any  time  that  there 
would  be  imminent  danger  of  war  if  he  refused  to  sign 
the  protocols  of  the  Conference,  and  the  real  interests 
of  France  were  not  at  stake,  he  would  sign  them  in 
accordance  with  the  first  instructions  given  him,"  and 
threatened  to  leave  London  if  the  situation  did  not 
improve  in  Paris.  Moreover,  when,  under  the  influence 
of  a  deputy  from  Brussels,  the  King  wavered  again,  and 
Sebastiani  sent  word  that  his  reply  was  postponed, 
Talleyrand  refused  to  submit  his  message  to  Palmerston. 
The  Conference  to  which  he  alludes  was  sitting  on 
the  Belgian  question  at  London.  When  England  pro- 
posed an  international  Conference,  Talleyrand  was 
instructed  to  demand  that  it  be  held  at  Paris,  and  he  did 
so.  His  personal  opinion  was,  however,  that  Paris  was 
in  too  insecure  a  condition,  and  he  was  not  disappointed 


Fro;//  a  sketch  by  Count  D'Orsay. 

TALLEYRAND 

(At  London,  in  1831) 


[p.  358. 


Ube  Xast  Hct  359 

when  London  was  decided  on.  He  had  made  up  his 
mind  from  the  first  that  Prince  Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg 
was  the  fittest  candidate  for  the  Belgian  throne.  To 
this  there  was  no  serious  opposition  at  London,  and  a 
change  of  Ministry  at  Paris  in  March  brought  Casimir 
Perier  to  the  head  of  affairs.  With  this  able  statesman 
and  friend  Talleyrand  could  make  more  progress,  though 
he  described  his  advance  on  Ancona  as  "  a  piece  of 
filibustering."  By  the  middle  of  July  Leopold  was 
accepted  in  Belgium,  and  the  irritating  problem  was 
settled. 

But  one  difficulty  was  removed  only  to  lead  to 
another.  Talleyrand  had  in  April  (1831)  obtained  from 
the  Allies  of  18 15  a  secret  promise  that  some  of  the  ^ 
fortresses  raised  at  that  time  against  France  should  be  • 
demolished.  Louis-Philippe  wanted  to  be  able  to 
announce  this  welcome  decision  in  his  July  address. 
As  Talleyrand  was  dilatory  in  obtaining  permission,  the 
King  made  the  announcement  and  declared  he  would  not 
evacuate  Belgium  until  the  forts  were  destroyed.  His 
ambassador  had  meantime  secured  the  assent  of  the 
Powers,  but  had  also  signed  a  promise  to  evacuate 
Belgium  in  August.  The  King  was  much  annoyed,  but 
Talleyrand  politely  requested  him  and  Perier  not  to 
make  so  much  noise  about  the  fortresses.  To  a  private 
correspondent  he  wrote  that  he  was  tired  to  death  of 
fighting  Paris,  when  his  whole  attention  was  needed  at 
London.  He  could  see  nothing  but  amour propre  in  the 
agitation  at  Paris.     The   struggle   continued   for   some 


36o  UaUe^ran& 

time.  Louis-Philippe  wanted  different  forts  destroyed 
from  those  that  Talleyrand  had  named,  and  wrote  angrily 
to  him.  His  ambassador  sent  a  polite  and  sarcastic 
reply,  and  the  names  of  the  forts  remained  unchanged 
when  the  matter  was  settled  in  January.  Talleyrand's 
weariness  expressed  itself  in  the  following  passage  of  a 
letter  to  Sebastiani,  which  would  probably  be  submitted 
to  Louis-Philippe  :  "  The  King  knows  that  I  am  a 
partisan  of  no  dynasty.  Since  the  days  of  Louis  XVI 
I  have  served  all  Governments  out  of  attachment  to  my 
country.  I  have  abandoned  them  the  moment  they  sacri- 
ficed the  interests  of  France  to  personal  interests.  If  the 
King  is  going  to  listen  to  domestic  chatterers,  he  must  not 
count  on  me."     It  was  the  voice  of  the  King-maker. 

At  London  he  had  maintained  his  diplomatic 
ascendency,  though  Palmerston  annoyed  him  exceed- 
ingly. There  was  a  good  deal  of  ill-natured  carping 
at  his  distinction.  One  day  Lord  Londonderry  was 
misguided  enough  to  voice  this  in  the  House  of  Lords. 
He  referred  to  the  influence  of  a  certain  "astute 
diplomatist"  over  the  Conference,  and  said  it  was 
"  disgusting  "  to  see  English  Ministers  in  such  assiduous 
attendance  on  this  man.  Talleyrand,  he  peevishly 
reminded  them,  had  been  the  Minister  of  Napoleon,  of 
Louis,  and  of  Charles,  before  he  took  the  service  of 
Louis-Philippe.  Lord  Goderich  protested  that  Talley- 
rand's character  should  have  protected  him  from  such 
an  attack,  and  then  Wellington  arose.  After  speaking 
of  his  relations   to  Talleyrand,  he    said  :    "  I  have    no 


Zbc  Xast  Bet  361 

hesitation  in  saying  that  at  that  time,  in  every  one  of 
the  great  transactions  in  which  I  have  been  engaged 
with  Prince  Talleyrand,  no  man  could  have  conducted 
himself  with  more  firmness  and  ability  with  regard  to 
his  own  country,  or  with  more  uprightness  and  honour 
in  all  his  communications  with  the  Ministers  of  other 
countries  than  Prince  Talleyrand.  .  .  .  No  man's  public 
and  private  character  had  ever  been  so  much  belied  as 
both  the  public  and  private  character  of  that  individual." 
His  words  were  greeted  with  loud  cheers.  Lord 
Holland  added  that  "  forty  years'  acquaintance  with  the 
noble  individual  referred  to  enabled  him  to  bear  his 
testimony  to  the  fact  that  although  those  forty  years 
had  been  passed  during  a  time  peculiarly  fraught  with 
calumnies  of  every  description,  there  had  been  no  man's 
private  character  more  shamefully  traduced,  and  no 
man's  public  character  more  mistaken  and  misrepre- 
sented, than  the  private  and  public  character  of  Prince 
Talleyrand."  A  visitor  the  next  morning  found  the 
aged  diplomatist  in  tears,  with  the  Times  in  his  hand. 
He  wrote  to  a  friend  that  "  at  Paris,  for  which  he  was 
killing  himself,  no  one  would  do  as  much  for  him." 
Cynics  have  not  failed  to  point  the  moral.  But  it  was 
merely  a  grateful  exaggeration.  Casimir  Perier  wrote 
to  him  soon  afterwards  :  "  Posterity  will  do  you  that 
full  justice  which,  in  times  of  social  agitation,  those  who 
have  charge  of  public  interests  must  not  expect  from 
their  contemporaries."  Unfortunately,  posterity  still 
likes  to  shudder  over  romantic  wickedness. 


362  X^aUep^:an^ 

Casimlr  Perier  died  in  May,  and  there  were  not  a 
few  at  Paris  who  thought  of  Talleyrand  as  his  successor. 
The  Prince  was  rather  bent  on  retiring  from  public  life. 
He  went  over  to  Paris,  and  found  a  condition  of  com- 
parative anarchy  resulting  from  the  death  of  the  strong 
leader.  However,  an  abler  Ministry  than  ever  was  got 
together,  and  in  October  he  returned  to  London.  If  the 
chroniclers  may  be  trusted,  his  wit  had  not  diminished 
with  age.  A  poet  of  suspicious  repute  had  issued  a  piece 
on  which  his  opinion  was  asked.  "  C'est  que  la  corrup- 
tion engendre  les  vers,"  he  replied.  A  more  questionable 
story  is  that  he  found  Montrond  one  day  in  a  fit  on  the 
floor,  clawing  at  the  carpet  with  his  nails.  "  It  looks  as 
if  he  is  quite  determined  to  go  down,"  he  is  described 
as  saying. 

The  Belgian  trouble  was  still  unsettled,  and  in 
October  he  signed  a  convention  with  England  to  compel 
the  Dutch  to  retire  from  Antwerp  in  obedience  to  the 
Conference.  French  troops  were  sent  into  Belgium,  the 
Prussians  massed  a  considerable  force  on  the  frontier, 
and  this  was  a  brief  period  of  great  anxiety.  The 
Dutch  did  not  finally  yield  until  May,  1833.  ^^^ 
this  difficulty  had  scarcely  disappeared  before  a  fresh 
one  arose.  The  Sultan  of  Turkey  had  appealed  to 
Russia  for  help  in  subduing  a  rebellious  vassal,  and 
signed  a  treaty  with  the  Tsar  in  July.  The  French 
were,  however,  jealous  of  Russian  interference,  and 
Talleyrand  had  to  press  at  London  for  joint  action. 
Nothing   was  done,  however,  when   Russia    anticipated 


Zhc  Xast  act  363 

them,     though    there    was    no    slight    risk    of    war    at 
one  time. 

The  crown  and  end  of  Talleyrand's  work  in  England 
came  in  April,  i  834,  when  he  signed  the  alliance  between 
England,  France,  Spain,  and  Portugal.  In  August  of 
that  year  he  left  England,  and  shortly  afterwards  resigned 
his  position  of  ambassador.  A  number  of  reasons  for 
this  step  are  assigned  in  his  letters  at  the  time,  though 
his  age  and  the  completion  of  his  work  at  London  by  an 
alliance  might  be  deemed  sufficient.  To  Lady  Jersey 
he  spoke  of  a  personal  affliction,  which  is  surmised  to 
have  been  the  death  of  the  Countess  Tyszkiewitz.  To 
Mme.  Adelaide  he  complained  of  his  growing  infirmity 
of  the  legs,  and  the  behaviour  of  Palmerston  ;  and  also 
that  her  son,  the  Due  d'Orleans,  had  been  telling  his 
own  English  guests  at  Valen^ay  that  he  was  past  work. 
He  declared  to  Von  Gagern  that  he  "  only  quitted 
affairs  because  there  were  none  to  attend  to  "  ;  while  to 
the  King  he  explained  that  he  had  now  secured  "  the 
right  of  citizenship"  for  France  in  Europe,  and  his 
work  was  over.  All  these  motives  influenced  him,  no 
doubt  ;  but  there  was  another  one,  of  some  interest. 
He  had  witnessed  at  London  the  growing  agitation  for 
reform,  and  completely  failed  to  appreciate  it.  As  the 
agitation  wore  on,  he  spoke  moodily  of  the  state  of 
France  in  1789.  The  convocation  of  the  first  reformed 
parliament  in  1833  he  described  as  "the  States-General 
ot  London."  He  was  too  old  to  understand  the  new 
movement,    to    see    a    permanent    and    proper    advance 


364  ^allesran& 

beneath  all  the  menacing  clamour.  England  was  no 
longer  "  so  rich  and  peaceful."  He  wrote  slightingly 
to  the  King  of  her  value  to  France,  and  thought  rather 
of  a  coalition  of  Europe  against  what  he  thought  to  be 
a  rising  tide  of  anarchy. 

He  resisted,  therefore,  the  kindly  pressure  of  the 
King  and  retired  to  Valen9ay.  "There  is,"  he  wrote  to 
a  correspondent,  "  an  interval  between  life  and  death 
that  should  be  employed  in  dying  decently."  There 
still  remained  three  or  four  years  of  life.  It  is  said  that 
he  offered  to  go  as  ambassador  to  Vienna  in  1835,  but 
Louis-Philippe  was  apprehensive  of  advances  being  made 
to  him  by  the  Bourbons.  In  that  year  were  published, 
in  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes^  George  Sand's  outrageous 
Lettres  d'un  voyageur.  Imagining  her  traveller  to  stand 
by  moonlight  before  the  chateau  of  Valen^ay,  she  puts 
into  his  mouth  some  of  the  most  repulsive  calumnies 
against  Talleyrand,  as  the  silhouetted  forms  appear  at  the 
windows.  The  subject  of  her  ridiculous  nightmares 
was  then  an  old  man  in  his  eighty-first  year,  peacefully 
concluding  his  memoirs  and  passing  the  last  slow  days 
in  the  company  of  the  Duchess  of  Dino  and  her  young 
daughter,  Pauline.  Maubreuil  was  hardly  less  chivalrous. 
George  Sand  was  a  not  distant  neighbour,  and  her 
description  of  his  "  daily  round  "  may  be  less  imagina- 
tive. He  rose  at  eleven,  and  spent  three  or  four 
hours  (?)  in  the  hands  of  his  valets.  At  three  he  had 
a  drive  round  the  park  with  his  doctor,  and  at  five 
enjoyed    "  the    most    succulent    and    artistic    dinner    in 


From  a  lithograph  by  Jeffrey,  after  a  bust  by  Dantan. 
TALLEYRAND 

(Porliait-caricature,  in  later  life). 


[p.  364. 


TLbc  Xast  Hct  365 

France."  After  a  few  words  to  his  family,  he  would 
drive  in  the  park  again  until  eleven,  and  then  work  in 
his  own  room  until  five  o'clock.  Visitors  still  made 
their  pilgrimages  to  Valen9ay.  We  find  Sir  Robert  and 
Lady  Peel  there  in  1836.  His  mind  is  described  as 
retaining  its  vigour  and  perspicacity,  but  by  the  end  of 
1835  loss  of  power  in  the  legs  began  to  foreshadow  the 
end.  His  temperate  habits  had  their  reward  in  good 
general  health.  It  is  said  that  after  death  his  organs — 
apart  from  the  local  trouble — were  found  to  be 
singularly  sound  for  an  octogenarian. 

On  his  eighty-third  birthday  he  wrote  a  few  lines 
that  reveal  the  pain  and  weariness  that  were  growing  on 
him.  He  concluded  a  rather  gloomy  summary  of  his 
long  life  with  the  words  :  "  What  result  from  it  all  but 
physical  and  moral  exhaustion,  a  complete  discourage- 
ment as  to  the  future  and  disdain  for  the  past."  On  that 
day  he  had  asked  Dupanloup  to  dinner,  but  the  rector 
of  Saint  Sulpice  pleaded  his  work  in  excuse.  "  He  does 
not  know  his  business,"  said  Talleyrand  with  a  smile. 
For  some  time  the  Prince  had  been  importuned  from 
many  sides  to  make  his  peace  with  the  Church.  It  is 
said  that  on  one  occasion  at  Valen9ay  he  incautiously 
asked  the  little  Pauline  one  Sunday  where  she  had  been. 
"I  have  been  to  mass,"  she  said,  "to  pray  the  good  God 
to  give  you  better  sentiments."  The  Duchess  of  Dino 
was  deeply  anxious  to  see  him  reconciled.  Letters 
reached  him  from  very  old  friends  with  the  same  aim. 
Royer-Collard  advised   it.      The   Archbishop   of  Paris, 


366  Ualle^ranC) 

Mgr.  Quelen,  who  had  been  coadjutor  to  his  uncle,  was 
pressing  as  far  as  discretion  allowed.  He  had  obtained 
instructions  from  Rome  as  to  the  minimum  that  need 
be  asked  of  the  illustrious  apostate.  In  1835  he  had 
received  the  dying  Princess  Talleyrand  into  the  Church, 
and  made  it  an  occasion  for  a  strong  appeal  to  her 
husband.  Talleyrand  politely  thanked  him  for  his 
interest. 

What  was  the  real  state  of  Talleyrand's  mind  in 
regard  to  religion  as  he  approached  the  end  ^  It  is 
quite  impossible  to  discover  it  with  certainty.  It  seems 
probable  that  throughout  life  Talleyrand  maintained  an 
attitude  of  agnosticism,  standing  between  the  dogmatic 
theism  or  dogmatic  atheism  of  his  friends.  It  seems 
clear,  too,  that  his  agnosticism  had  not  very  deep 
philosophic  roots,  and  it  would  not  be  unnatural  for 
it  to  yield  under  the  pressure  of  approaching  death.  It 
is  true  that  he  often  uses  theistic  expressions  in  his 
letters  from  18 14  onwards,  but  that  may  be  merely  a 
concession  to  the  new  fashions  introduced  with  the  new 
monarchy.  Napoleon  had  openly  described  him  as  a 
man  who  "  did  not  believe  in  God."  But  there  are  two 
facts  that  strongly  dispose  us  to  take  a  diplomatic  view 
of  Talleyrand's  "  reconciliation."  The  first  is  that  he 
had  a  strong  incentive  to  go  through  the  form  of 
submission.  There  were  frequently  disorderly  scenes 
at  the  funerals  of  his  non-Christian  friends,  and  he 
betrayed  a  great  concern  lest  his  own  exit  from  the  stage 
should   be    marred    by    the    same  disorder.      He  even 


Zbc  Xast  Bet  367 

spoke  towards  the  end  of  leaving  France,  and  it  was 
thought  that  he  wanted  to  die  out  of  the  country  so  as 
to  be  buried  in  peace  without  submission.  And  the 
second  fact  is  the  way  in  which  he  postponed  the  act  of 
reconciliation  until  the  very  last  and  inevitable  moment, 
as  we  shall  see. 

In  March  his  life-long  friend,  Count  Reinhard, 
died,  and  Talleyrand  read  a  paper  on  him  at  the  Institut. 
The  hall  was  crowded  with  scholars  and  politicians,  and 
Talleyrand  was  greeted  with  a  remarkable  ovation.  He 
read  his  paper  in  a  strong  and  sonorous  voice,  and  then 
made  his  way  from  the  room  between  two  compact 
hedges  of  admirers,  who  bowed  their  heads  as  he  passed. 
"A  greater  than  Voltaire,"  cried  Victor  Cousin.  There 
is  little  in  the  oration  to  explain  the  enthusiasm.  To  us, 
indeed,  who  read  it  in  full  consciousness  of  Talleyrand's 
whole  career,  and  not  merely  in  connection  with  his  last 
work  at  London,  it  has  a  curious  look.  The  only 
passage  of  particular  interest  is  where  he  describes  the 
qualities  that  make  the  great  diplomatist.  Of  these 
"good  faith"  is  the  first.  He  protests  against  the 
"prejudice"  that  conceives  diplomacy  as  "a  science  of 
ruse  and  duplicity."  "  If  good  faith  is  ever  necessary  it 
is  in  political  transactions."  The  passage  rings  with 
perfect  sincerity  ;  but  the  tradition  that  Talleyrand's 
successes  have  left  in  the  school  of  diplomacy  is  of 
a  very  different  kind.  The  speech  was  plain  and  in- 
eloquent.  Lady  Blennerhasset  thinks  Talleyrand  had 
nearly  every   gift  of  this  life  bestowed  on   him  except 


368  XE;aUe^ran& 

"  respect."  It  is  impossible  to  see  in  the  splendid 
enthusiasm  evoked  by  his  last  public  appearance  at 
Paris  anything  else  but  a  great  demonstration  of 
respect. 

The  suppuration  in  his  legs  ceased  some  time 
before  his  death,  and  he  spoke  cheerfully  of  a  journey 
to  Italy,  but  in  April  the  last  symptoms  made  their 
appearance.  He  bore  his  pain  with  great  restraint 
and  dignity.  Dupanloup's  scruples  had  been  overruled 
by  the  archbishop,  and  he  was  now  a  frequent  visitor 
at  the  Hotel  St.  Florentin.  There  seems  to  have  been 
no  conversation  about  religion  in  these  visits,  but  there 
was  a  business-like  arrangement  of  terms.  Until  the 
end  of  March  he  politely  evaded  all  Dupanloup's 
attempts  to  make  an  opening.  At  last  he  promised 
the  duchess  he  would  summon  the  priest  if  he  fell 
seriously  ill.  He  then  submitted  to  him  a  draft  of  a 
recantation,  but  as  it  contained  an  implication  that  he 
had  been  free  to  marry,  Dupanloup  had  to  reject  it, 
and  proposed  another  form  on  May  I2th.  He  watched 
Talleyrand's  face  with  great  eagerness  as  he  read  it, 
but  not  a  muscle  moved.  The  Prince  asked  him  to 
leave  it. 

Anthrax  had  set  in  on  May  nth,  and  all  Paris  was 
interested  in  the  end  of  the  great  diplomatist  and  the 
question  of  reconciliation.  Candles  were  burning  in 
every  chapel  in  the  city.  Messengers  were  running  to 
and  fro  between  Saint  Sulpice  and  the  archbishop's  house, 
as  they  had  run  so  many  times  between  foreign  embassies 


TLbc  Xast  Hct  369 

when  Talleyrand  was  obstinate.  On  the  evening  of  the 
1 6th  he  was  visibly  sinking,  and  his  niece  implored  him 
to  sign  the  form.  He  promised  to  do  so  at  six  in  the 
morning.  When  he  grew  worse  during  the  night,  and 
they  pressed  him  to  sign,  he  observed  it  was  not  yet  six. 
When  the  hour  came  Dupanloup  sent  in  to  him  the  little 
Pauline  dressed  for  her  first  communion,  and  as  Talley- 
rand caressed  her  the  clock  struck  six.  Dupanloup  and 
the  witnesses  entered,  and  Talleyrand  signed.  "  I  have 
never  ceased,"  the  paper  ended,  "to  regard  myself  as  a 
child  of  the  Church.  I  again  deplore  the  actions  of  my 
life  that  have  caused  it  pain,  and  my  last  wishes  are  for 
its  supreme  head."  Dupanloup  had  politely  refrained 
from  inserting  such  phrases  as  "sin"  and  "  repentance." 
It  was  a  gracious  acknowledgment  of  errors  committed 
in  a  wayward  age.  This  was  the  price  of  a  peaceful  and 
honourable  burial.  Gregory  XVI  is  said  to  have 
described  it  as  one  of  the  triumphs  of  his  reign.  The 
document  was  antedated  two  months. 

During  the  day  the  King  came  to  bid  him  farewell. 
Talleyrand  was  greatly  moved  at  the  honour,  and  received 
the  King  ceremoniously.  Dupanloup  was  in  constant 
attendance,  and  succeeded  in  inducing  him  to  confess  and 
receive  the  sacraments.  As  the  day  wore  on  he  became 
more  and  more  exhausted,  and  approached  the  end.  In 
the  adjoining  room  all  Paris  was  waiting  for  the  close. 
Statesmen,  nobles  and  scholars,  young  and  old,  were 
gathered  in  little  groups  before  the  curtain  that  cut  off 
the  bedroom  from  the  library.      At  a  quarter  to  four  the 

24 


370  Uane^ran& 

doctor  was  called,  and  there  was  a  general  movement 
towards  the  door.  The  curtain  was  drawn  back,  and  all 
saw  the  figure  of  the  Prince.  He  sat  on  the  edge  of  the 
bed  supported  by  two  servants — a  "  dying  lion,"  says 
one  witness.  His  long,  white  hair  now  hung  loosely 
about  the  pallid  and  shrunken  face.  The  head  drooped 
on  the  chest,  but  now  and  again  he  slowly  raised  it  and 
looked  with  the  last  faint  shadow  of  a  smile  on  the  great 
crowd  that  had  come  to  pay  the  tribute  of  France.  It 
was  a  "grand  spectacle,"  said  Royer-Collard  ;  the  fall  of 
"the  last  cedar  of  Lebanon."  He  "died  in  public," 
"  died  amidst  regal  pomp  and  reverence,"  say  other  eye- 
witnesses. The  duchess  and  her  daughter  knelt  by  the 
bedside.  He  was  conscious  to  the  end — conscious  that 
his  career  was  ending  amidst  a  manifestation  of  love, 
power  and  profound  respect  as  great  as  he  could  ever 
have  wished. 

He  was  accorded  by  State  and  Church  the  funeral 
of  a  prince.  In  the  Church  of  the  Assumption,  where  he 
was  to  be  interred  until  the  vault  was  ready  at  Valengay, 
an  imposing  ceremony  was  held,  at  which  Europe  was 
represented.  Over  the  catafalque  on  which  his  worn 
frame  lay  was  emblazoned  by  priestly  hands  the  motto 
of  his  house  :  "  Re  que  Diou  " — I  lived  so  high 
that  God  alone  towered  above  me.  It  was  his  last 
triumph. 

The  story-tellers  close  their  version  of  his  career 
with  the  statement  that,  as  the  cortege  started  some 
time  after  for  the  gates  of  Paris,  to  take  the  body  to 


Xlbc  Xast  act  371 

Valen(;ay,  and  the  driver  called  out  the  usual  question  : 
"Which  barrier?"  a  deep  voice  replied  from  underneath 
the  hearse  :   "La  barriere  de  I'Enfer." 

That  there  are  unanswered  and  perhaps  unanswer- 
able questions  in  regard  to  Talleyrand's  career  must  be 
admitted  :  that  his  personality  is  obscure  and  enigmatic 
can  no  longer  be  maintained.  The  work  of  successive 
historians  and  biographers,  which  I  have  put  together  in 
succinct  form  in  this  study,  has  made  him  intelligible. 
When  we  set  aside  demonstrable  myths  and  legends, 
and  when  we  decline  to  entertain  the  vicious  charges  of 
his  enemies  that  are  unsupported  by  other  testimony, 
we  have  a  tolerably  clear  character  and  consistent  career. 

We  see  a  boy  of  many  excellent  qualities  thrust 
into  a  school  of  hypocrisy,  a  youth  of  sensuous  and 
amorous  temper  and  sceptical  views  admitted  into  a 
Church  that  asks  no  serious  questions,  a  sincere  patriot 
serving  a  country  that  deliberately  changes  its  rulers 
five  times  in  the  course  of  his  life.  The  tortuousness 
is  largely  in  the  path  marked  out  for  him.  A  refined 
epicurean,  but  no  sybarite,  he  set  out  with  deliberate 
intent  to  enjoy  life.  It  is  no  injustice  to  point  out 
that  he  fell  short  in  practice  of  ideals  of  personal  and 
political  asceticism  that  he  never  even  respected  in 
theory.  A  certain  laxity  of  morals,  a  disposition  to  pass 
over  in  silence  the  misdeeds  of  those  who  employed 
him,  a  readiness  to  take  money  for  service  done,  were 
parts  or  consequences  of  his  map   of  life.      He  was   no 


372  ^aUe\?mn& 

Stoic,  and  would  be  the  last  to  expect  us  to   strain  his 
character  into  harmony  with  Stoic  ideals. 

But  if  Talleyrand  chose  the  comfortable  valleys 
instead  of  scaling  the  arduous  heights  of  great  personal 
or  political  virtue,  he  had,  none  the  less,  distinct  graces  of 
character.  Few  men  of  recent  times  have  been  so 
heavily  and  so  successfully  calumniated.  He  was  not 
licentious,  nor  corrupt,  nor  vindictive,  nor  treacherous, 
nor  devoid  of  idealism.  He  was  humane,  generous, 
affectionate,  a  sincere  patriot,  a  lover  of  justice  and 
peace.  He  sought  a  comfortable  existence,  but  he 
desired  to  avoid  inflicting  pain  or  discomfort  on  others. 
He  was  sensitive  of  the  honour  of  France,  proud  of  her 
greatness,  happy  in  serving  her  with  distinction.  He 
was  a  kind  master,  a  genial  and  liberal  friend,  a  lover  of 
domestic  peace  and  harmony.  He  sought  throughout 
his  career  to  disarm  violence,  prevent  bloodshed,  resist 
oppression,  and  help  on  the  reign  of  good  taste,  good 
sense  and  good  feeling. 

His  political  career  is  to-day  free  from  ambiguity. 
He  was  a  Churchman  by  accident  and  the  fault  of 
others.  He  did  right  in  abandoning  the  Church.  Some 
of  his  Catholic  royal  critics  in  1815  declared  that  the 
mistake  of  his  life  was  not  to  have  clung  to  the  Church, 
and  enjoyed  his  wine  and  his  mistress  in  the  tranquility 
and  comfort  of  the  cardinalate.  He  was  not  low  enough 
in  character  for  that.  He  behaved  towards  the  Church 
he  had  left  with  a  moderation  and  absence  of  passion  that 
is  rare  in  the  embittered  and  calumniated  apostate.     Not 


Ubc  Xast  Hct  373 

a  single  change  in  his  later  political  career  can  be 
seriously  challenged.  In  later  years  he  said,  in  varying 
phraseology,  that  he  had  never  conspired  except  with 
the  whole  of  France,  and  had  never  deserted  a  cause 
until  it  had  deserted  itself  or  common  sense.  He  had 
no  belief  in  the  divine  right  of  either  kings  or  mobs  ; 
and  no  ruler  he  met  had  charm  enough  or  real  greatness 
enough  to  win  from  him  a  personal  allegiance.  With 
his  last  breath  (and  in  his  will)  he  spoke  tenderly  of 
Napoleon,  and  commended  the  ex-Emperor's  family 
to  his  heirs.  He  served  France  more  in  deserting 
Louis  XVI  than  those  who  remained  faithful  *  and  his 
successive  desertion  of  the  Directors,  Napoleon,  and 
Charles  X  needs  no  defence.  The  only  rational  ground 
of  censure  is  that  he  kept  so  entirely  together  his 
personal  interest  and  the  high  cause  of  France  and 
humanity  that  he  served  through  all  these  vicissitudes 
of  his  country.  This  will  withhold  from  him  for  ever 
the  title  of  self- forgetting  greatness,  the  nobler 
enthusiasm,  which  we  so  fitly  reverence,  of  losing 
sight  of  self  at  times  in  an  exalted  cause.  He  made 
his  choice,  and  he  will  abide  by  it. 


THE    END 


INDEX 


Abbes  Commendataires,  9,  21. 
Aberdeen,   Lord,  354. 
Aboukir,  The  Battle  of,  169. 
Acton,    Lord,   on   Talleyrand,    268, 

337.  338. 
Adams,  President,  158. 
Addington,  192. 
Adelaide,  Mme.,  352,  35G. 
Agent-General  of  the  Clergy,  39. 
Alexander   I,    228,    248,   261-4,   286, 

307,  316. 
America,   Talleyrand's    Impression 

of,  136. 
American  Envoys,  Talleyrand  and 

the,  15S-60. 
American  War  of  Independence,  48. 
Amiens,  Treaty  of,   193. 
Amsterdam,  Talleyrand  at,   143. 
Ancien  Regime,  The,  24-34. 
Anna,  The  Archduchess,  264-316. 
Arnault,  64. 
Arnold,  General,  134. 
Artois,  M.  d,'  70,  75,  290. 
Assembly  of  Notables,  The,  52. 
Auch,  The  Archbishop  of,  21. 
Austerlitz,  233. 
Austria,  The  First  Napoleonic  War 

with,  1S5. 
Autun,  Talleyrand  promoted  to  See 

of,  47.  57- 
Azara,  M.,  357. 

Bacourt,  M.  de,  72. 
Barras,  149,  152,  159. 
Barry,  Mme.  du,  iS. 
Barthelemy,  154. 
Bastide,  Charges  of,   161. 
Bastille,  Taking  of  the,  74. 
Bautzen,  The  Battle  of,  275. 
Beaumetz,  M.  de,  135,  138, 


Belgium,  Independence  of,  355,  363. 

Bellechasse,   Convent  of,   29. 

Benevento,  The  Princedom  of,  242. 

Bcrnier,  The  Abbe,  203. 

Bernadotte,  175. 

Berry,  The   Due  de,  295,  316,  325. 

Beugnot,  291,  322,  330. 

Biron,  The  Due  de  (see  Lauzun). 

Blacas,  298. 

Boisgelin,  The  Abbfe  de,  40. 

Bliicher,   325,  330. 

Boissy  d'Anglas  139. 

Bollmann,  132. 

Bonaparte,  Joseph,   187,  193,  206. 

Bonaparte,  Lucien,  173,  176. 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon  (see  Napoleon) 

Bookman    on    Talleyrand's    Birth, 

2,  140. 
Bordeaux,  Talleyrand's  Journey  to, 
Boulogne,  The  Camp  of,  231. 
Brionne,  The  Cardinal  de,  8,  33. 
Brionne,  The  Countess  de,  47,  319. 
Brougham  on  Tallej'rand,  212,  213. 
Bruix,  172. 

Brumaire,  The  coup  d'etat  of,  173-6. 
Brussels,  Congress  of,  358. 

Cagliostro,  28,  33. 

Calonne,  51. 

Calumnies  of  Talleyrand,  13,  44. 

Cambacercs,  179,   195. 

Cambrai,  324. 

Campo     Formio,     Treaty     of,    156, 

162,  165. 
Cardinalate,  Talleyrand  misses  the, 

47- 
Carlsbad.  Talleyrand  at,  318. 
Carnot,   150. 
Casenove,  135, 
Castellane,  147, 


u. 


INDEX 


Castlereagh,  297,  300,  304,  333. 

Ceylon,  193. 

Chalais,  The  Princesse  de,  3. 

Chamfort,  24,  31,  32. 

Champ  de  Mars,  The  mass  in  the, 

91-94. 
Champagny,  254,  258. 
Charles  IV,  253. 
Charles  X,  34S,  350. 
Charlotte,  196,  212. 
Chartres,  The  Due  de,  33. 
Chatre,  The  Countess  de  la,   131 
Chateaubriand,  145,   214,   320,   322. 
Chateaux  Vieux,  343. 
Chauvelin,  The  Marquis  de,   117. 
Chenier,  139. 
Chivalry,  Orders  of,  27. 
Choderlos  de   Laclos,  64. 
Choiseul,  48. 
Choiseul-gouffier,  5,  29. 
Church,    Talleyrand's    attitude     to 

the,  38,  82,  90. 
Civil    constitution    of    the    Clergy, 

The,  96. 
Clergy,    The     French,    before    the 

Revolution,  8,  12,  22. 
Clergy,    The     French,    during   the 

Revolution,  65-78. 
Clichy  Club,  The,  153. 
Cobentzl,  Count,   186. 
College  d'Harcourt,  3. 
Colmache,  351,  352. 
Colonisation,  Talleyrand  on,   146. 
Compiiigne,  Talleyrand  at,  291-2. 
Concordat,  Drafting  of  the,  202-7. 
Condorcet,   106. 

Consalvi,    Cardinal,   at   Paris,   204. 
Constant,  B.  155,  178,  287. 
Constantinople,  Napoleon's  designs 

on,   169. 
Constituent  Assembly ,  The,  S6-109. 
Constitutional  Club,  The,   145. 
Constition  Committee,  Talleyrand's 

defence  of  the,  89. 
Constitution,    Completion    of    the, 

109. 
Continental    system    of    Napoleon, 

The,  236. 
Copenhagen,   Battle  of,  192. 
Council    of    Ancients,    The,    140, 

173- 
Council  of  the  Five  Hundred,  The 

140,  173. 
Courland,    The     Duchess    of,    277, 

279,  332,  341- 


j    Court,  Cost  of  the,  9. 
Cousin,  v.,  367. 
Cuvier,  348. 

Dalberg,  Bishop,  240,  247,  283,  300. 
j    D'Antigny,  Marquis  of,  i,  140. 
I    Danton,  123,  125,  127. 

Daunou,  139. 
I    Decadi,  The,  20. 

I    Declaration  of  St.  Ouen,  The,  293. 
j    DeliUe,  The  Abbe,  31. 
!    Democratic  Principles  of  Talleyrand, 
!  60. 

Department  of  Paris,  Talleyrand  on 
the,  no,  121. 

Desmoulins,  C,  72. 

Dillon,  Archbishop,  8,  43,  96. 

Dino,  The  Duchess  of,  2S0,  300,  309, 

332,341- 
Dino,  The  Duchy  of,  332. 
Directorate,  Paris  during  the,  143. 
Divorce  of  Josephine,  The,  270. 
Dumouriez,  117,  142,  216. 
Dupanloup,  Mgr.,  2,  365,  368. 
Dupont  de  Nemours,  50,  52. 
Duroveray,  117. 
Dutch  and  Belgians,  The,  335-63. 

East   Indies,   Talleyrand's   Ship  to 
,      the,  138. 
Eclaircissements ,  Talleyrand's,  156, 

170. 
Education  in  the   Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury, 5-6. 
Education,    Tallej'rand's    great 

Speech  on,  106-9. 
Egypt,    Napoleon's   Expedition   to, 

161,  168-9. 
Election-Manifesto    of    Talleyrand, 

60. 
Enghien,    Murder  of  the    Due   d,' 

215,  20. 
England,  Opening  of  the  War  with, 

227. 
Erfurt,  The  Conference  at,  259-64. 
Eylau,  The  Battle  of,  247. 

Femmes  de  Talleyrand,  Les,  36. 
Ferdinand,  253. 
Fesch,  Cardinal,  221,  270. 
Feuillants,  Club  of  the,  87. 
Finance,  Talleyrand's  acquaintance 

with,  50. 
First    Consul,    Napoleon   becomes, 

179. 


INDEX 


111. 


Fitzgerald,  Lord  E.,  142. 

Flahaut,  Count,  357. 

Flahaut,  The  Countess  de,  34,  98, 
142. 

Flight  of  the  King,  104. 

Foreign  Ministry,  Talleyrand's  In- 
troduction to,  150. 

Fox,  113. 

Fouch^,  173,  188,  266,  271,  326,  329. 

Francis,  Sir  Philip,  147. 

Franklin  at  Passy,  48. 

Friedland,  The  Battle  of,  247. 

Fructidor,  the  coii^  d'etat  of,  153-5, 
195-8. 

Gagern,  Baron  von,   196,   213,   241, 

246. 
Galiffet,  The  Hotel,  164,  210. 
Gallicanism,  200. 

Gambling  before  the  Revolution,  26. 
Gambling,  Talleyrand's  Confession 

of,  95. 
Gazette,  Talleyrand's  Letter  to  the, 

129. 
General  Assembly   of  the    Clergy, 

The,  19,  40-42. 
Genlis,  Mme.  de,  7,  11,  29,  131. 
Gentz,  306,  307. 
George  III,  113,  182. 
Georges,  216. 

Ghent,  Louis  XVIII  at,  321. 
Gobel,  Bishop,  97. 
Goderich,  Lord,  360. 
Goethe,  264,  265. 
Godoy,  1S2,  252. 
Gohier,  171,  173. 
Gramont,  The  Duchesse  de,  33. 
Grand,  Mme.,   147-9,  209,  212. 
Grand  Chamberlain,  Talleyrand  as, 

221. 
Grand  Elector,  179. 
Gratuitous  Gifts  of  the  Clergy,  20, 

40. 
Gregory  X'VI,  369. 
Grenville,  114,  iiS,  183. 
Grimaldi,  Mgr.  de,  56. 
Guizot,  350. 
Gustavus  IV,  230. 

Hamburg,  Talleyrand  at,  141-2. 

Hamilton,  Colonel  Alex.,  135. 

Hanover,  23O. 

Hardenberg,  Prince,  304,  308. 

Haugewitz,  234. 

Hauterive,  M.  d,'  205. 


Helvetian    Republic,    Formation   of 

the,  156,  197. 
Heydecooper,  136. 
Hohenlinden,  188. 
Holland,  Lord,  361. 
Hortensc,  211. 
Humboldt,   Baron  von,  304,   306, 

308. 

Institut,   Talleyrand's  Speeches  at 

the,  146. 
Issy,  56. 
Italian  Republic,  Formation  of  the, 

190. 

Jacobins,  Napoleon  on  the,  182. 

,,  Origin  of  the,  87. 

Jena,  The  Battle  of,  243. 
Jersey,  Lady,  363. 
Jews,  Enfranchisement  of  the,  88. 
Josephine,  166,  211. 

La  Besnardi^re,  240,  300. 

Labrador,  303. 

Lacoste,  The  Marquis,  75. 

Lafayette,  48,  106,  121. 

Lamartine,  102. 

Lansdowne,  Lord,  115,  130,  137. 

Laporte,  128. 

Latour  du  Pin,  M,  300. 

Lauderdale,  Lord,  239. 

Lauzun,  2G,  30,  iii. 

La  Vendee,  The  war  in,  169,  184. 

Laval,  The  Duchess  de,  265,  267. 

Lebrun,  12S,  179. 

Legendre,  139. 

Legion    of    Honour,    Founding    of 

the,  194. 
Legislative  Body,  The,  17S. 
Leipzig,  The  Battle  of,  275. 
Leopold    of    Saxe-Coburg,    Prince, 

359- 
Lessart,  M.  de,  iii. 
Library,  Sale  of  Talleyrand's,  130, 

273- 
Lieven,  The  Princess,  354, 
London,  Conference  of,  358. 

,,         Talleyrand    at,    113,    133, 

354-64. 

Londonderry,  Lord,  attacks  Talley- 
rand, 360. 

Lcuis  XVI,  Crowning  of,  17. 
,,         .,        E.xecution  of,   130. 

Louis    XVIII,    289,    317,    319,    322, 
353,  348. 


IV. 


INDEX 


Louis    Philippe,    352,    353,    35S-9, 

364,  369- 
Louis,  Baron,  agS, 
Louisiana,  199. 
Luchesini,  224 

Luneville,  The  Treaty  of,   187. 
Lutzen,  The  Battle  of,  275. 
Lytton    on    Talleyrand,    255,    272, 

317.  333- 

Malmesbury,  Lord,  156. 

Malta,  185,   224. 

MarbcEuf,  Mgr,  46. 

Marengo.  186. 

Maret,  156,  274,  277. 

Marie  Antoinette,  26,  47,  53,  81. 

Marriage  of  Talleyrand,  209. 

Marseillais,  The,  122. 

Martignac,  349. 

Maubreuil,  Marquis  de,  346. 

Maurepas,  36,  48. 

Maury,  84. 

Melzi,   190. 

Memoirs,      The,      of     Talleyrand, 

335-8. 
Meneval,  267. 
Merlin  de  Douai,  154. 
Metternich,  303,  306,  310. 
Michaud,  285,  286. 

,,         Charges  of,  i6r. 
Michelet,  75. 
Mignet,  350. 

Miller,  Sir  J.  R.  88,  103. 
Miot   de   Melito,  Charges   of,    155, 

161,  168. 
Mirabeau,  31,  51,  64,  86,  102. 
Mirondot,  Bishop,  97. 
Monaco,  The  Hotel  de,  265,  273. 
Monasteries,  The  Suppression  of,  90. 
Monastic  Orders  before  the  Revo- 
lution, 22. 
Moniteur,  The,  89. 

,,  Talleyrand's   Letter   to 

the,  95. 
Mons,  Talleyrand  at,  322. 
Montesson,  Mme.  de,  33. 
Montrond,  320,''362. 
Morality  during  the  Revolution,  112. 

,,  ,,         Directorate,  143. 

Morellet,  The  Abbe,  24. 
Morgan,  Lady,  340. 
Morning  Post  on  Talleyrand,  354, 
Morris,  Governor,  34,  98. 
Moscow,  Napoleon's  Return   from, 

274. 


Moulin,  171,  173. 
Murat,  244,  314. 

Napoleon,  Attempt  on  the  Life  of,  188. 
,,         buys  Talleyrand's  Hotel, 

273- 

,,  Crowning  of,  222. 

„  Diplomatic    Methods    of, 

187,  226. 

,,  First  Marriage  of,  221. 

,,  in  Eg^'pt,  168. 

,,  King  of  Italy,  231. 

,,  leaves  Elba,  317. 

,,  Second  Marriage  of,  271. 

,,  Talleyrand's  first  acquain- 

tance with,  165. 

,,  Talleyrand's  respect  for, 

178,  189. 

,,         Violence  of,  267. 
Narbonne,  Count  Louis  de,  29,  131. 
National  Assembly,  The,  69. 
Nationalisation  of  Church  Property, 

82. 
Necker,  Tallej'rand's  Attack  on,  51. 
Nemurs,  The  Due  de,  357,  358. 
Nesselrode,  Count,  285,  304,  306. 
Netherland    Trouble,     The,     355-6, 

360-3. 
Noailles,  The  Count  de,  300,  313. 
Noailles,  The  Vicomte  de,  74,  86. 
Nobles  after  the  Restoration,  295. 
,,      The  pre-Revolutionary,  26, 

53- 
Noel,  125. 

Nonconformists,  103, 
Non-swearing    Priests,    Talleyrand 
protects,  no. 

Ollivier,  M.,  302. 
"Orange-War,"  The,  igi. 
Ordination  of  Tallej'rand,  39. 
Orleans,  The  Due  d,'  64,  131. 

Palais  Royal,  The,  33,  63, 

Palmerston,  355,  357. 

Panchaud,  32. 

Pasquier,  Charges  of,  155,  161,  18S, 

331- 
Paul  I,  Death  of,  192. 
Pauline,  342,  365,  369. 
Peel,  Sir  Robert,  365. 
P^rier,  Casimir,  332,  359,  361. 
P^rigord,  Cardinal  Helie  de,  12. 
Perrey,  217,  21S. 
Petion,  121. 


INDEX 


V. 


Philadelphia,  Talleyrand  at,  135. 
Pichcgru,  General,  153. 
Pitt,  113. 

,,     Talleyrand  meets,  49. 
Piedmont,  Annexation  of,  224. 

Pius  VII,    10,  200,  221. 

Poland,  Talleyrand's  Work  in,  245. 

Polignac,  Prince  de,  349. 

Poniatowski,  Princess,  247. 

Portugal,  Affairs  of,  191. 

Pozzo  di  Borgo,  43,  328. 

Pradt,  Archbishop  de,  288. 

Press,   Talleyrand  defends  Liberty 

of  the,  345. 
Provincial  Assemblies,  54. 
Prussia,  Alliance  of,  with  Russia,  22. 

,,       declares   War  on  France, 

243- 
Pultusk,  The  Battle  of,  224. 

Quelen,  Mgr.,  366. 

Rastadt,  Congress  of,  15G. 

Reinhard,  117,  142. 

Remusat,  Mme.,  149,  212. 

Renan,  108. 

Renaudes,  The  Abb^  des,  45,  58. 

Reveillere,  149. 

Revolution,  Causes  of  the,   49,  53, 

109. 
Revolution,  Paris  during  the,  iii. 
Revolution  of  1S30,  The,  351. 
Rewbell,  149,  152. 
Rheims,  The  Archbishop  of,  7,   11, 
Rhine  Confederation,  The,  237,  240. 
Richelieu,  The  Due  de,  328,  333. 
Rights  of  Man,  Declaration  of,  76, 

7S. 
Robespierre,  109. 
Roche-Aymon,    Archbishop    de    la, 

II,  20. 
Rochecotte,  343. 
Rochefoucauld,  The  Cardinal  de  la, 

65,  67. 
Rochefoucauld,    The     Due    de     la, 

121,  140. 
Roederer,  277. 
Roger-Ducos,   171,   173. 
Rohan,  The  Cardinal  de,  8,  28. 
Roman     Republic,     Formation     of 

the,  156. 
Rose,  Mr.  Holland,  on  Talleyrand, 

191,  201,  203,  215. 
Rousseau,  235. 
Rou.K,  161,  162. 


Royal  Lottery,  Proposal  to  buy  up 

the,  42. 
Royer-Collard,  342,  3G5. 

St.  Denis,  Talleyrand's  abbaye  of, 

18,  23. 
St.  Domingo,   199. 
St.    Florentin,  The   Hotel,  273. 
St.  Julicn,   Count,  x86. 
Saint  Sulpice,   10. 
Sainte-Beuve    on    Talleyrand,    13, 

45.  60,  102,   i6r. 
Sand,  George,  on  Talleyrand,   364. 
Savary,  217,  273,  276,  284,  2S5. 
Saxony,  The  partition  of,  310,  312. 
Schwartzenberg,  Prince,  2S6. 
Sebastiani,  225,  357,  360. 
Secularization  of  Talleyrand,  207. 
Scmonvillc,  214. 
Senate,  The,  178. 
Senfft  on  Talleyrand,  163,  241,  250. 
September  massacres,  The,  125. 
Sieyes,   C5,   69,    73,    158,    i6o,    171, 

172,  179. 
Simon,  Jules,  108. 
Sloane,  Professor,   iS,  i6r. 
Smith,  Sidney,  132. 
Socicte  du  .Manege,  The,  170,  175. 
Sorbonne,    Talleyrand    at    the,    14, 

24-5- 
Souza,  The  Marquis  de,   142. 
Spain,    Napoleon's    Expedition    to, 

252-6. 
Spanish  Princes,  The,  at  Valenfay, 

256,  27S. 
Spina,  Mgr.,  202. 
Staiil,  Mme.  de,  62,   in,  131,  146. 
Stapfer,  192,   196. 
States-general,  The,  6$,  79. 
Strassburg,  Napoleon's  fit  at,  231. 
Stuart,  Sir  Ch.,  300. 

Tallej'rand,  Archbishop,  10,  39,  54, 

2S3. 
Talleyrand-P^rigord,  C.  M.  de:— 

,,  Ancestry  of,  i. 

,,  as  Agent-General,  39,  46. 

,,  Birth  of,  2,  140. 

,,  Bishopric  of,  54. 

,,  Consecration  of,  56. 

,,  Constitutional  Ideal  of, 

60,  72. 

,,  Death  of,  370. 

,,  Education  of,  5-I4. 

,,  Energy  of,  4,  230. 


VI. 


INDEX 


Talleyrand-Perigord,  C.  M.  de  : — 
,,  Expelled  from  England, 

^33- 

,,  Feeling  of  towards  Na- 

poleon, 178,  i8g. 

,,  in  America,  135-40. 

,,  Marriage  of,  209. 

,,  Morality  of,  36,  371. 

,,  Ordination  of,  39. 

,,  Parents  of,  2,  140. 

,,  Person  of,  28,  340,  371. 

,,  Presidentof  the  National 

Assembly,  Sg. 

,,  Reconciliation  of,  366. 

,,  Religious  Views  of,  201, 

366. 

,,  Resignation    under   Na- 

poleon, 250. 

,,  Secularised,  207. 

,,  Suspension  of,  99. 

,,  Venality  of,  157-63,195-8, 

315- 
,,  Wit  of,  35,  213,  294,  328, 

344-  348- 
Talleyrand-Perigord,  Lt.  de,  3,  6,  55. 
Talleyrand,  The  Princess,  212,341. 
Tallien,  Mme.,  149. 
Target,  68. 

Tennis  Court,  Oath  in  the,  70. 
Theophilanthropists,  The,   151,  202. 
Thiers,  350. 
Thirty  Club,  The,  62. 
Tilsit,  The  Conference  at,  247. 
Tithe,  Surrender  of,  77. 
Toleration,   Talleyrand's   Spirit   of, 

103. 
Tour  et  Taxis,  The  Princess  de  la, 

261. 
Toussaint  I'Ouverture,  199. 
Trafalgar,  233. 
Tribunate,  The,  178. 


Trinidad,   191,   193. 
Tuileries,  Attack  on  the,  122. 

,,         Napoleon  at  the,  180. 
Turgot,  48,  50. 
Tuscany,    Talleyrand    seeks   to   go 

to,   130. 
Tysykiewitz,    Countess,    247,    266, 

363- 

Ulm,  Battle  of,  232. 

Universal  Suffrage  under  Napoleon, 

178. 

Valen§ay,  256,  278,  342,  364. 

,,  The  Spanish  Princes  at, 

256,  278. 
Varennes,  Flight  to,  104. 
Vars,  The  Baron  de,  36. 
Venality  of  Talleyrand,  157 — 63. 
Vercelli,  The  Bishop  of,  201. 
Versailles,  Court  life  at,  226, 
Veto,  The  right  of,  79. 
Vice-grand  Electorship.  The,  250. 
Vienna,  Congress  of,  303. 
Vienne,  The   Archbishop   of,    67, 

69. 
Vitrolles,  Baron,  283. 
Voltaire's  last  visit  to  Paris,  35. 

Walewski,  The  Countess,  245. 
Warsaw,  Talleyrand  at.  245. 
Waterloo,  322. 
Wealth  of  the  French   Clergy,  21, 

42,  83. 
Weimar,  Napoleon  at,  264. 
Wellington,  297,  314,  324,  327,  331, 

360. 
Whitworth,  Lord,  225. 
Wieland,  264. 

Yarmouth,  Lord,  237,  239. 


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